


Awaken The Light

by Xehanorto



Category: Kingdom Hearts, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers, Major Character Injury, Mentions of Sora x Kairi, Multi, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Parental Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Parental Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Protective Present Mic, Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22895893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xehanorto/pseuds/Xehanorto
Summary: [Spoilers for ReMind] After Sora's encounter with Yozora, his heart and body are left on the brink of total collapse and vanishing. Thanks to the intervention of an unknown entity, Sora has now been given a chance to heal and recover in a world of Heroes. Follow Sora's journey through his Hero Academia and his efforts to return to his own worldline. [Tags will be added as the story goes on.] [Knowledge of Kingdom Hearts is not needed for this story, elements will be explained in story.]
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic
Comments: 65
Kudos: 171





	1. A New Journey Begins!

‘You yourself...will vanish from this world. And without your powers, you can’t return to the world you came from.’

Chirithy’s words echoed through Sora’s head as he returned to The Final World, the young man absolutely exhausted after his encounter with Yozora. It had been a long and difficult battle, with his strength harder than ever to grasp, but he had managed to win. But why had Yozora attacked him, if he was told to save him, why attack? That was the strangest rescue he had ever been apart of to say the least.

There was no doubt that the encounter had actually happened, his exhaustion and bruises were certainly a testament to that. But before their fight, they had clearly been on the platform that represented his heart. How had Yozora managed to connect with his heart despite the two of them having never met before? So many questions and no way to get the answers he wanted.

“None of this...makes sense to me.”

Sora had been walking alone for several minutes now, his brain wracking for answers as his movements were becoming more sluggish, each step becoming harder to take. The fight had taken more out of him that he cared to admit, unwilling to acknowledge that there were only flickers of his light left and that he was starting to fade fast.

He had to hold on though, he couldn’t give up, not when his friends were waiting for him to come back home. Chirithy had told him he wouldn’t be able to return to his world without his powers, but he wanted that with all his heart. And if he wanted it to happen, nothing was impossible. It was just like when he had rescued Kairi, people had told him that was impossible or that he wouldn’t come back, but he had saved her. And he would come back.

“Everyone, just wait...a bit longer...I’ll be home soon…”

Home, the word sounded so nice, how long had it been since things were normal for him and his friends. Easily over eighteen months now, ever since that fateful night when the Destiny Islands were lost. But now, Xehanort and the Organization were gone, Maleficent and Pete were a nuisance at best, and there were no other threats looking to throw the worlds into chaos. For the first time in over a year, they could have true peace.

He could finally tell his mother with certainty that there wouldn’t be anyone else to fight like Xehanort to fight. Saying goodbye before the final battle had been tough, he never wanted to make his mom worry. He had promised her with a smile that he’d be back before she’d know he was gone and that everything would be okay. The mere memory brought a tear to his eye, he was sure she was worried sick, especially if Riku and Kairi told her about what had happened.

Sora wasn’t sure how long he had been walking for, but Sora’s mind had gone into thinking about what he’d done once he got home, once he saw his friends again. He knew he’d have to apologize to Kairi most of all, she probably blamed herself for him having to sacrifice himself for her. But, despite knowing how it all turned out, he wouldn’t change anything about what he had done. They always found their way back to each other, it may take a bit of time, but he knew that one day they’d see each other again.

Unfortunately, that would not be any time soon, after walking for who knows how long, Sora finally collapsed, falling backwards with a loud splash that no one else could hear. He was completely exhausted now and he could barely find the strength to lift his head, let alone force himself back up. His hands were clenched tight as he didn’t know what would happen next. Was he about to fade from this world as well, no one there to help him? Was he going to die all alone?

‘You are not alone, Sora.’

Sora’s head rose slowly, weakly looking around for the source of the voice he had just heard. It was certainly a soft voice, even softer than Kairi’s if such a thing was possible. But try as he might, he couldn’t see anyone else here. Empty as always since he arrived here again, aside from his encounter with Yozora.

“Who...where are you?” His voice was weak, it was hard for him to even speak now as he forced his head to lie back down. 

‘All that matters is that I am here to help you, Guardian of Light.’

Sora chuckled a bit at that, a random stranger wanting to help someone they had just met? Where had he heard that before?

‘Your heart and body are on the verge of fading completely, from this or any world. During your last fight, you drew upon the vestiges of your power, making your light shine brighter for a brief period, but at a great cost. The last of your strength is fading, your light soon to be completely extinguished and snuffed out.’

“Not my fault, Yozora wanted to pick a fight...even though he was supposed to save me…” At least, that’s what he had told him, but who knows if that was true. There were definitely better ways to go about saving someone than fighting them...though, Sora would freely admit that sometimes someone needed a good hit on the head to knock them back to their senses. But normally, those people were being possessed or manipulated by the bad guy.

The unknown voice seemed to chuckle at that comment, apparently amused by it. ‘Yozora’s intentions are pure, he just has an odd way of showing it. Still, I fear not even he will be able to save you at this rate, now that his heart has returned to his own worldline.’

“World-line? I’ve heard of different worlds, but worldlines?”

‘Yes, you actually caused a new worldline when you broke the nature taboo that Chirithy spoke of before. One where the Thirteen Darknesses emerged victorious and then one where the Guardians of Light triumphed. Yozora comes from a different worldline entirely, not one created by a divergence in time. Very few throughout history have been capable of this feat, most of which belong to the ancient Keyblade Masters.’

Sora blinked at that, he knew there had to be Keyblade Wielders that existed long before him, Xehanort and Master Yen Sid were proof of that, but from that long ago? And they had been capable of travelling to these different worldlines? They must’ve been extremely powerful if they were capable of that and remaining whole in both body and heart. 

“Wait, are you here to send me back to my own worldline then? I have a lot of people wait-”

The voice sighed a bit, cutting Sora off. ‘Unfortunately, with the state that your body and heart are currently in, it is beyond even my power to send you back to your own worldline. The strain it would put on your body would kill you before you arrived there.’

“Oh...I see…” Sora tried his best to not sound bitter at that news, but it slipped out regardless. He had really hoped that this mysterious stranger was going to send him back. “Then why are you bringing it up if you can’t send me back home?”

‘Because, there is another worldline that I can send you to, that will guarantee your survival. If you should stay here, then your body and heart will perish completely and then it will be beyond anyone’s power to save you.’

Sora closed his eyes for a moment as the voice told him that his only options were to stay here and die or go to a new worldline and survive there. He was definitely going to take the latter option, but he had to know something. “If I go to this other worldline, is there a way for me to get home someday?”

The voice sighed again, though this time there was sadness behind it before she began to answer. ‘In theory yes, however it could be anywhere from a few months to years before your power is back to that point. The worldline I would be sending you to works differently from the one you come from, they do not have magic there, nor are there other worlds or even Keyblade Wielders there. Due to how little of your own power remains, what is left can best be preserved and given a chance to heal and grow again in this worldline.

Your body will adapt once you arrive in this world, converting your remaining power to fit with the laws of that world. From there, it will be up to you to nurture your power and develop it. You have a special gift that allows you to bond easily with others, I’m sure that if you make plenty of connections, your power will be restored quickly.’

Sora relaxed a bit as the voice explained to him what would happen once he crossed into this new worldline, well it was new for him anyway. The water was beginning to rise slowly, now brushing against his fingers and legs. His time must’ve been short now, soon he was going to sink into the abyss, unless this stranger saves him like she’s promising to. 

“Well, that’s good at least, should be a piece of cake.” Sora laughed a bit, though it sounded tired, all he wanted to do was rest now. He was completely spent and his eyes were beginning to drift closed, though he tried to keep them open just a bit longer. He would sleep once he knew he was safe. 

‘I’m glad that that you’re confident. Just remember to keep your light strong Sora, your heart will guide you in this new world as it always has. The darkness in this world will be vastly different from what you’re used to, but I know you’ll make it through.’

The voice sounded more cheerful now and closer than it had before, despite the voice coming from all around him. It seemed to be getting brighter as well, like a light was being focused on him as the water continued to rise. Was he going to sink into the abyss before his savior could save him?

“Thanks for your help, but I have to ask...who are you anyway? I didn’t think there was anyone else here.” 

The voice giggled a bit at that question as the light got brighter and brighter, the water enveloping him even faster than before. He felt so warm, but cold at the same time, it was odd. His eyes were barely open now as his vision was almost blinded by the light, most of his body now underwater.

‘Let’s just say that you’ve saved me a few times throughout your adventures. We’ve never met before, but if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been lost a long time ago. I’m just using a bit of my power to keep you whole.’

Sora smiled at that as he drifted off into slumber, the water and light now enveloping him completely, the light a thick aura surrounding him while the water seemed to be drifting him away to his destination instead of just sinking below. The last thing we could make out before his eyes closed was a heart as the voice spoke to him one last time.

‘May your heart be your guiding key, Sora. And welcome to the world of Heroes.’

___________________________________________________________

**Dagobah Municipal Beach Park**

**9 Months Before U.A. Entrance Exam**

The sun had just reached its peak during the end of the first month of Izuku Midoriya’s training under All Might in order to prepare for the U.A. Entrance Exam and to receive his Quirk, One for All. Progress so far had been a bit slow, but progress was being made nonetheless. 

Toshinori had told Izuku to rest for a bit as outlined in his Fitness Plan, after all, rest was something vital when working to train your body. It was at this moment that the two of them were sitting on a bench overlooking the beach, with Izuku chugging a bottle of water to hydrate himself. 

“Young Midoriya, you really should drink a bit slower, don’t want you to choke on your water. It’s meant to refresh you, not make you need more rest”

The green haired young man laughed a bit awkwardly as he pulled the bottle away from his lips, about half full still. “Sorry, guess I’m just a bit excited to get back to work.” The last month had left him exhausted, but knowing what waited for him in the future, he was looking forward to all the sweat he was going to put in.

All Might laughed a bit at that, sipping on his own drink as he looked at the trash filled beach. You could make out a couple of small spots where the garbage had been moved over the last month, but there was still a lot more to go before the beach would be cleared.

“Of course, you’ve been working very hard this last month and I couldn’t be prouder. Just make sure you stick to my plan and you’ll be ready for the exam.”

Izuku nodded as he was about to respond, before a flash of light obscured his vision, same with Toshinori. The boy managed to regain his sight first and what he saw concerned him immediately. Out of nowhere, there was a teen falling out of the sky, rocketing towards the water by the beach. And he didn’t seem to be conscious if his lack of movement or panic were a good indication.

The thought about where he came from or what was going on didn’t even cross his mind as Izuku began to get up and run towards the water to try and swim out to save the stranger that was close to hitting the water. By the time that he got to the stairs though, All Might had already transformed into his muscular state and was already in the water from his speed, that smile on his face like always. 

“Do not worry, for I am here!”

The unconscious teenager collided with the water, with All Might reaching him just a few seconds after and rushing him to shore. The pro hero wasn’t even out of breathe from the mile swim that he completed in thirty seconds. With the utmost care, All Might laid the boy onto the beach, immediately noticing that the boy had cuts and bruises all over his body. 

Izuku made it to his mentor a few seconds later, eyes widening at the condition the other boy was in. Where had he come from anyway, he hadn’t heard any planes or helicopters in the area. Was it some type of teleportation quirk? “I-Is he okay, All Might?”

The pro hero didn’t respond though, putting his head next to the boy’s chest and putting two fingers on his wrist, checking for a pulse. He began to fear the worse when he heard nothing, but a faint heartbeat was felt after fifteen seconds. The boy’s injuries must’ve been much worse than what they appeared to be on the surface. If they hadn’t been here, who knows what could’ve happened to him. Thankfully, there was a hospital nearby and he hadn’t used much of his time today.

“I need to get this boy to the hospital! Young Midoriya, you are welcome to come visit, but there’s no time to waste!” With that, All Might scooped the young boy up and made sure to carry him in a way that would give him plenty of support as he rushed him to the hospital. As civilians noticed him running towards the hospital, the hero had only one question on his mind as he had no doubt about getting him to the hospital in time for treatment. 

‘Young man, where on earth did you come from?’


	2. Questions for a New Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While waiting for Sora to awaken , Detective Tsukauchi and All Might try to determine where their visitor has come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit sooner than I planned, but after seeing the new My Hero movie last night, I want to get this caught up as soon as possible on here so that I can do simultaneous updates on both here and Fanfiction.

It had been twenty-four hours since the unknown teenager had been personally delivered to the hospital by All Might for emergency treatment. The cuts and bruises were easy enough to treat, but the patient was dangerously dehydrated and exhausted. The doctors had been amazed enough that the boy was still alive, it seemed like he had been going on fumes for days before he was rescued by the Number One Hero.

Currently, he was resting in a hospital bed with an IV attached to his arm to get him some much needed fluids and nutrients. The doctors had been unable to find any sort of ID or other forms of identification on his clothing that they had to remove to treat him and running his face through the police's database had turned up nothing so far.

This is what Tsukauchi Naomasa and Yagi Toshinori were currently discussing in one of the private rooms close to the unidentified patient's hospital room. Thankfully, the staff were under the impression that it was All Might in that room and the staff had been given explicit instructions not to enter without knocking.

"I'm assuming you didn't find anyone by the names he was muttering either? Doctors managed to pick out a couple, but most of it couldn't be made out." Yagi was currently sipping on some hot tea, hoping the boy would wake up soon. Aside from wanting to get some answers about what caused his appearance and state, he wanted to make sure that the boy was okay.

"Unfortunately, nothing so far, we couldn't find anyone with the name Riku or Kairi in the database either. And without knowing what his Quirk is, we can't run a search through the Quirk registry to identify him either. It's like he appeared out of thin air." Tsukauchi ran a hand through his hair, reviewing the case notes so far, of which there was barely anything.

It was a case that was baffling the police, but thankfully the media hadn't gotten a hold of it yet. Aside from Young Midoriya, there had only been one other witness nearby when the incident happened and they agreed to not say anything about it. The young man certainly wouldn't need the media hounding him once he recovered about who he was.

"I think he might have Tsukauchi , Young Midoriya saw him seconds before I did, but we both saw him appear in the air, wrapped in what appeared to be light. I'm not sure if someone used a Warp Quirk to send him there, but given the condition he was in when I found him, someone might have been trying to dispose of him. Though, given how close he was put to the shoreline, it's doubtful since they could've easily dropped him in the middle of the ocean and leave us none the wiser."

The detective sighed at that, knowing that his friend and colleague was correct in his assessment, there were too many factors that weren't adding up about this. "Well, he was mumbling in Japanese at least while the doctors were treating him, so unless he's bilingual, we know he's from somewhere in Japan, Asia at worst should it come to that. But the fact that him or the other individuals he muttered aren't coming up in our search is concerning. How do we know that he has family looking for him? Or anyone is looking for him for that matter?"

"I'm sure that someone is looking for him, it's only a matter of finding out who and where they are. Right now, all we can do is wait for him to awaken." The pro hero smiled as he had no doubt about the boy's recovering, with the detective nodding and his own smile forming.

The quiet that followed that lasted for all of ten seconds.

"WHERE AM I?!" The voice was loud enough to be heard across several rooms in the hospital, with the pair immediately hopping out of their chairs. All Might immediately transformed into his muscular form as Tsukauchi ran out the door first and towards the room of the patient, fearing the worst for his condition.

When the detective slid the door open, the spiky haired boy as currently sitting up in his bed, dripping with sweat as his expression screamed confusion and panic. Other than that, the boy looked like he was healing up nicely, his cuts and bruises were barely noticeable after the healing Quirks that were used and he looked rested enough.

The detective cleared his throat a bit to get the boy's attention, trying to put him at ease. "It's okay kid, you're just in the hospital. You were found in pretty bad condition by All Might, but he got you here right away."

The boy looked at the detective and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to compose himself. "Right, but um...who's All Mi-"

"I am here, to check on the patient!" All Might entered the room and closed the door shut behind him, ignoring the protests of some of the other patients who wanted his autograph now that he had stepped outside. He knew the doctors would be coming along shortly and hopefully the small crowd would disperse by then.

"Young man, I am quite relieved to see that you're on your way to making a full recovery. You gave everyone quite the scare given how injured you were when we found you." All Might had that wide smile on his face as he spoke to the young man, preparing to give either an autograph or a picture. Most people tended to ask for one when they had been saved by him.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now, but who are you?" The question was innocent enough, the two veterans couldn't find any hidden intent in them, but it just led the way to more questions. There wasn't anyone on the planet who hadn't heard of the Symbol of Peace, the Number One Hero All Might. Before the pro hero could inquire about it further, Naomasa spoke up first.

"This is All Might, the pro hero who rescued you. Now, I just want to ask a few questions while we wait for the doctors to come and check on you now that you're awake. You think you're up for that?" The boy shrugged, before nodding, laying his head back down on the hospital bed after looking at his hand intently for a few seconds. It almost seemed like he had been expecting something to happen, his Quirk maybe? The detective took out his notepad and a pen, taking a seat near the patient's bed.

"Thank you, I'm Detective Naomasa. Do you remember your name?" He wanted to ask a few basic questions, first to see if the patient was suffering from some form of amnesia. If he wasn't, then some basic information that would hopefully help their search to find this boy's family or point of origin.

"Yeah, I'm Sora...Haruki." He clearly wasn't used to using his family name, because the boy took several seconds in stating it. Did he have trouble remembering it or did he just not use it very often? Either one was concerning.

"Thank you Haruki-kun, it's nice to meet you. Next question,how old are you?"

"15...though, it might be 16 soon, I've kinda lost track of time lately. How close is March 28th?" A birth date, that would help immensely. The detective chuckled a bit at the question, trying to ease his own worry. Sora not knowing what day it was certainly raised a lot of red flags. Had he been held captive by a villain for long enough that he lost track of the time?

"We're still over half a year away from that date. So no worries there. Now, my next question for you, where are you from?" The reaction to that question was concerning to say the least, Sora bit his lip for a few seconds, as though trying to come up with an answer. Was he trying to hide something or could he not remember? Thankfully, his Quirk would help with that. There was a reason he had the nickname True Man among the police force, his Quirk allowed him to tell if a person was lying or not.

"Destiny Islands." His Quirk registered that as true as he jotted it down with his other notes, though that location didn't sound familiar. It was likely a small island near Japan and the locals just called it that. Should be easy enough to sort out at the station. The detective didn't notice the concerned expression that Sora made after he gave the name of where he was from.

"My last question for you for the time being, what is your Quirk?" In the worst case scenario where Sora Haruki didn't exist in any police records, there would have to be something in the Quirk registry. The answer that Sora ended up giving however, set off multiple warnings in both Naomasa's and Toshinori's minds.

"What's a Quirk? I've never heard of that before." The worst part is, the answer came back as another truth. In this day and age, while not hearing of All Might was incredibly unlikely, it was still feasible. But not knowing about Quirks? That was an impossibility, given only 20% of the world's population was Quirkless and most people developed there's by the age of four, five at the latest. There was something seriously amiss here, but before Naomasa could question it further, All Might stepped in.

"A Quirk is like a unique power that only you have! For example, another pro hero is capable of creating and controlling flames, adjusting the temperature at will. Some can change their size, the list goes on!" The Number One Hero certainly hoped that would jog the young man's memory. Or at the very least, see if that would trigger anything.

Sora sighed quietly to himself, the sound barely being heard by the two adults in the room. "I...I'm not really supposed to use my power unless I need to defend myself." At that response, the detective could immediately tell the boy was lying, writing it down with his other notes. Was it possible that he was bullied for his Quirk? Or had he been sworn to secrecy about it? Before he could ask Sora about it, All Might laughed a bit.

"Well, that is a fine practice Young Haruki. However, we want to help you get home and while the information you've provided will help in that regard, knowing what your Quirk is will certainly help even more! It can be our little secret that you showed us~" Sora looked between All Might and the detective, before smiling a bit. Thank goodness that All Might knew how to win someone over, it made stuff like this a lot simpler.

"Alright!" The boy sounded excited now, a far cry from his reluctance just a few seconds ago, outstretching his hand as he seemed to focus. There was a small flash of light as something appeared in Sora's hand. The object appeared to be key shaped in nature, though it was unlike any key they had ever seen and it was quite large, a weapon perhaps? In addition, the weapon seemed to be made entirely of light. Could this boys Quirk allow him to make constructs out of light? If so, it was certainly a potent Quirk, which would beg the question why he lied about being allowed to use it.

Sora's expression though was puzzled as he moved his hand slowly, allowing himself to examine the construct. "Weird, this is the first time it's ever looked like this." After another thirty seconds or so, he let the weapon dissipate to nothing. His comment wasn't missed by the two grown ups, who shared a glance. They certainly had more questions now, but hopefully with what they had learned so far, they would be able to get some answers.

"Thank you for showing us that Haruki-kun, I know that probably wasn't easy for you. We'll have some more questions for you later, but for now we're going to see if we can find your guardian so we can let them know what happened. In the meantime, try to get some more rest, I'm sure the Doctors will have plenty of questions for you as well."

Sora's eyes widened for a brief moment at the word guardian, before he smiled at the two adults. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

The two adults nodded and left the room quietly as a nurse and doctor quickly went into the room to do some examinations and ensure that the patient was healing nicely, with Tsukauchi having given Sora's name to the doctor on their way out so they could have a name to update their paperwork with.

"So Tsukauchi, what did you make of Young Haruki?" All Might trusted his long time friend when it came to determining someone's character and while he had found Sora to be a nice kid, there were too many oddities surrounding him.

"Well, aside from lying about not being able to use his Quirk, he seems trustworthy enough, but something's odd. The kid doesn't seem to have long term memory loss since he can clearly remember his birthday and he mentioned that his construct looked different than it normally does. In addition to that, he didn't know who you were."

All Might chuckled a bit at that as the two reentered the room they had been occupying before. "Well, it's not like everyone has to know who I am! Though it is odd, the way he smiled reminded me a lot of myself."

"Right, the kid seemed to try to be as positive as possible about what's going on, though there are clearly cracks. Maybe some sort of recent emotional trauma? But what really got me was when he said he didn't know what a Quirk was." Tsukauchi's tone turned serious as All Might turned back into his normal form, not wanting to waste time in his muscular form if he didn't have to.

"That concerned me as well, in our current society, it's impossible not to know about Quirks. Even if he was extremely isolated in his home and community, he would've needed to be told about Quirks once his own developed. Something isn't adding up about all this."

Tsukauchi sighed and nodded in agreement. "On that, we're agreed. I'm gonna take this info down to the station, see if I can't find anything on Sora now that we have some more of his personal information. Should only be a few hours. Once the doctors are done looking the kid over, see if you can't try and find out more from him."

Yagi nodded as he picked up his cup, noticing that the tea was now cold, sitting it back down. "Right, hopefully Young Haruki will remember something about where he was or who had done that to him. I'll wait to see what you can find in your search before I question him though."

* * *

It had been about four hours since Detective Naomasa and All Might had visited Sora in his hospital room, with the young man having been left alone for about two hours now. The doctors had looked him over and told him that his recovery was going well and at this rate, they should only need to keep him for a couple more days for observation. The first thing he had asked for once the examination was over was some food, which Sora had scarfed down, despite the subpar taste. He had definitely gotten too used to making his own high quality food at the Bistro in Twilight Town.

Once he had finished eating, the doctors had turned the lights off and closed the blinds, wanting Sora to try and get some rest, but the teen could do anything except rest. The last two hours had been spent with him reflecting, apparently his arrival in this world...no, worldline, he had to keep reminding himself there was a difference. Anyway, his arrival here had given people a scare, though falling out of the sky wasn't really anything new for him. As soon as he arrived though, this hero All Might had managed to save him almost right away.

"He was definitely something, muscles larger than Herc and one of the most reassuring people I've ever met." He thought about what that voice had told him before he blacked out, that this was a world of heroes. If all the heroes here were like All Might, then this worldline was definitely in good hands.

Sora facepalmed as he thought about how he had told them that he was from Destiny Islands, the voice of Donald ringing in his ears about the World Order. He had always been a bit bad at concealing that and with everything that had happened, it slipped his mind until it was too late. He only hoped that either there were a series of islands on this world called the Destiny Islands or that they wouldn't ask too many questions. The young man didn't really enjoy hiding the truth, but he had been reminded enough to know better. Did the same rules even apply when it came to worldlines, especially ones with no keyblade wielders to speak of?

Sora looked at his hand and clenched it a little, remembering what had happened when he had tried to summon his Keyblade. It had looked different, made entirely of light and it had felt...different. When All Might had told him what a Quirk was, Sora had thought that Quirks were how they described Keyblade Wielders here, but it was clearly something different. Something he should have realized right away given that the voice had said there were no Keyblade Wielders in this world.

Was what was left of his power converted into a Quirk? At the very least, his Quirk seemed to be based on light, which was a positive. He'd need to figure out his new limitations and capabilities once he was out of the hospital. He was used to losing is power before, but at least then he was still operating under the same rules. This worldline was something entirely new and he had no idea how his power worked now.

The sooner he figured that out, the sooner he could start working on getting back to his own worldline. He knew that it'd take time, but he'd do everything he could to get back home quickly. Maybe teaming up with these heroes would help him find answers? He was certainly used to fighting and performing heroics thanks to his numerous adventures. He just needed to figure out where his strength was right now.

Opening his hand again, he tried to focus on summoning his Keyblade, but instead of getting the weapon this time, a small orb of light floated above his palm. He hadn't done anything different from last time, why was it different? After a few seconds, the orb of light vanished, causing Sora to groan in frustration.

"Urgh, did my power really get diminished that much? It's been bad before, but never like this!" He knew his powers weren't going to be the same when he got to this world, but to this extent? He could at least try to recreate some of his physical skills since he could still make something resembling the Keyblade, but anything involving magic was going to need a visit to the drawing board.

Before his train of thought could continue any further, there was a soft knock on the door. "Young Haruki, are you awake?" Was that All Might? Did they manage to find something already?

"Yeah, I'm up. Can't really sleep." His response was met with the door opening and All Might stepping inside, the smile from before still on his face. Though it seemed a bit different compared to before, a seriousness that Sora could recognize. Did they know?

"Well if you're feeling up to it, I have some more questions for you. Let's start with who you are, Sora Haruki."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a couple of announcements regarding this project, I have opened a Tumblr account over at somecallitkye.tumblr.com where I will be posting fan art that I commission for this fic, as well as ideas for both this fic and other projects that I have in mind. Currently, the only fan art I have is Sora in the U.A. Uniforms and his eventual Hero Costume.
> 
> In addition, I am currently working on a Discord Server for discussing this story as well.


	3. Secrets Revealed!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Truths are revealed as All Might questions Sora about his origins.

Sora's eyes widened as All Might said those words, with the pro hero taking a seat near Sora's bed, that smile still on his face. They found something that didn't match his answers, oh god he was gonna be in trouble. Donald would never let him hear the end of this once he found out. An awkward chuckle came from him, a desperate attempt to play it off. "What do you mean? I mean, you just said my name."

All Might's smile didn't falter at the joke, in fact, the older man seemed to be having to repress a laugh. But, he needed to keep his composure up, if only so they could figure out the truth of what was going on. "Yes, well, Detective Naomasa just got in contact with me about the information you provided us earlier. And we found something rather concerning.

Or rather, I should say the lack of what we found is what concerns us. No Sora Haruki in any public records, no Quirk registration that fits what you displayed, and no group of islands called Destiny Islands. According to official records, you, your home, and your Quirk don't exist. Now you don't seem like a bad kid at all, but after the condition you were found in, we're concerned for your safety. And the safety for everyone in this country."

Sora looked down in guilt as All Might explained their concerns, so they were able to figure out that he was lying. Or at least what he had provided them earlier didn't match up with what they knew. He figured it would've happened eventually given he didn't know how long he would be in this world, but for it to happen this soon? And only after being awake for just a few hours? That had to be some kind of record for breaking the world order, at least unintentionally.

Before Sora could speak up in his defense though, All Might continued. "Now, we know you were telling us the truth about where you were from. Truthfully, you're not a very good liar, but that's not a bad thing. Honesty is a good trait for a hero after all!" The pro hero could certainly see potential in Sora, sure there were questions that needed answering, but his instincts told him that Sora would be a great hero if he chose that path. First though, they needed the truth.

"Young Haruki, I am not sure what happened to you before we found you, but your body was on the brink of collapse. While on the surface, injuries weren't too bad, you barely had a pulse and you were severely dehydrated. From what we could best surmise, you were attacked by a villain and they were trying to dispose of your body after the fact. If I had not already been at Dagobah Beach on some...personal matters, you would have likely drowned after you went into the water. In order to best help you, I need to know what happened. If it's too painful to talk about, I completely understand and I will do whatever I can to help you regardless of what you choose to tell me."

Sora had to resist gasping at those words, not having expected the conversation to go that way. He had thought that All Might would have been more forceful with his questions, especially given how out of place he must've seemed to him and the Detective. But he was still being considerate of his feelings, still assuring him that everything would be alright despite how sketchy he must have seemed. He knew that not everyone was like that, that some people would simply ignore how someone else was feeling in order to protect others.

"All Might...I…" Sora bit his lip as he looked up at the hero, that smile still on his face despite his hesitation to tell him anything. The young man let out a shaky breath as he forced himself to sit up in his bed. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally supposed to talk about this stuff. Where I come from, talking about it is...well, basically taboo. And just...I know you wanna help, but I don't know if I can talk about what happened. I don't want to get in trouble if I ever make it back home…"

Not when, Sora realized after he said that, but if. Was he really doubting himself that much that he would make it home someday? Without his friends there with him, without his connections that he'd spent so long developing, could he really do this on his own? He knew he didn't believe that, but no one was there to reassure him this time. Well no one in his circle of friends, this was like the Keyblade Graveyard all over again. And yet, this wasn't a life or death situation, why was he freaking out so much?!

His breathing was starting to get a bit faster without him realizing it, his brain was running a marathon as his mind kept spiralling towards the worst case scenarios. He hadn't realized it yet, but he was currently having a panic attack, something that All Might was quick to catch onto. He quickly walked over to Sora and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Young Haruki, try to take a deep breath for me. In…" All Might holds his breath for a few moments. "And out."

Thankfully for All Might, Sora was quick to respond, following All Might's lead to try and calm down, his shaking coming to a crawl as his eyes were now watering up. He felt so weak, so useless right now, it had been years since he had lost his composure like this. There had been times of weakness where he had despaired, but he was normally able to pick himself back up. Right now though, it seemed like a monumental task.

"S-Sorry, I don't know what came over me." And he meant it, there had been times where he had gotten down sure, but never to the point where he broke down like that...well, that wasn't true anymore, not after the final battle at the Keyblade Graveyard. The first had been when all of his friends were consumed by the darkness, the only one left had been Riku and even he had been consumed. He had never felt so hopeless in his life before that moment.

And then Xehanort struck Kairi down, all to _motivate_ him into triggering the final clash between light and darkness. Yes, he had been able to save her at the cost of his own existence, but the thought that Kairi could've been gone forever. That he would never see her smile or hear her laugh again, the thought that nearly pushed him to a place he didn't want to think about again.

"It's quite alright Young Haruki, I know you've been through quite a lot and I understand your reluctance to speak of it. However, I will assure you that whatever you tell me will remain confidential between the two of us. Once we get you home, no one has to know that you told me about whatever happened." All Might looked at Sora with that smile still on his face, while his mind was processing that a kid was having to deal with something that had caused a panic attack and who knows what kind of trauma. If he ever met who did this to Young Hikari, they would certainly get what was coming to them and face justice.

And he certainly meant what he said about keeping things between him and Sora confidential...to a point at least. While none of Sora's relatives or family needed to know about what they would discuss, if the villain responsible for this was still at large, the pro heroes would certainly need to be made aware to launch an investigation. Not too mention finding a place for Sora to stay until they could get him home. Wherever home was for him, assuming he still had a home to go back to. He couldn't really come up with a plan until Young Hikari told him his story.

"I...thank you All Might, I appreciate it. Let's see, where to start then…" Sora tilted his head and crossed his arms, trying to think of where to start. He easily had enough to tell where it would last for hours, if not longer if he started from his first journey. After a couple of minutes of thinking, Sora's eyes widened a bit as he remembered something. "All Might, did they find anything with my clothes after you rescued me?" If his Gummiphone had made it with him, that would make things much easier to explain.

"If they did, it should be in one of the drawers here. Let me check." All Might began to overdramatically go through each drawer, pulling it out further than what was really necessary to check to see if there was anything inside each one. Sora felt a tinge of sweat roll down his forehead at the sight of that. Maybe Donald had been right when he ranted about how he opened some of the larger treasure chests they found too dramatically. Especially since he'd be doing the same as All Might right now if he was able to get out of bed.

After a couple of minutes, All Might made a noise of acknowledgement as he pulled out two items from one of the drawers. One was an odd shaped phone and the other was some form of playing card. The rest of the items were all clothing or clothing accessories that Sora had been rescued in, now washed, dried and repaired from any wear and tear. The fabric had certainly been easy to work with.

"Ah yes, aside from your clothes, these were the two things that we found on your person. No one was able to make sense of your phone or get access to it so your privacy is secure. As for the card...I must say, I'm intrigued that you'd carry a blank card on you, but I'm not one to judge habits." All Might walked over to Sora's bed and held out the two objects for the young man to grab, with Sora only taking his Gummiphone. Well, at least it had managed to make the trip with him. At least this way he would have memories and pictures of his friends until he got back home.

"Yeah, I'm not entirely surprised at that. This...well, it's kind of a unique model, only a dozen or so were made." Sora smiled a bit as he powered on the Gummiphone, thank god this thing didn't ever run out of battery. Something about the materials used to make the phone were the same as the Gummi Ship so as long as he kept a happy face, he'd be able to power the phone on. Once the device finished booting up, Sora entered his password and smiled as the various folders popped up on screen. Tapping on the Journal button, Sora pulled up all the records from his past adventures.

"Alright, well, this is gonna be a bit of a long story, so you might wanna get comfortable." Sora needed to tell All Might...well, just about everything that had happened. If not to have All Might believe his story, then to honestly get this off of his chest. Maybe talking about it, even if it's too a complete stranger, would help get his mind off of it.

"Of course, take all the time that you need young man. I'm not going anywhere." The pro hero had only used about thirty minutes of his time today, so assuming that this would only take an hour at most, he would have plenty of time left in his muscle form to be able to leave the hospital without drawing suspicion.

Unfortunately, the Number One Hero had severely underestimated how much Sora was going to tell him and he had lost track of time as he listened to the young man recount his story. From how he had started as...well, Quirkless wasn't right anymore, if Sora being from another world was to be believed, but all of the evidence so far was pointing to that being true. Would this world had followed a similar route and been exploring other worlds had Quirks not developed generations ago?

But Sora had gone from being what this world would consider to be Quirkless and destined for nothing, to becoming one of the greatest champions of peace. From travelling to various worlds and helping complete strangers that he kept meeting, to fighting against vast forces of darkness that would hold nothing back, to be able to keep smiling after all of that had certainly earned of his respect. If it weren't for the laws here, he was sure Sora would easily be able to get a Hero License and would likely become a Top 10 Hero in just a couple of years.

However, despite his amazement, All Might was fuming on the inside, having to maintain his composure at everything that Sora had to endure. From constantly losing his friends, to nearly losing his life at multiple points, to losing all his power multiple times, it infuriated him. No one at this child's age should've had to endure such trials and hardships, no matter what circumstances were behind it. And to hear that so many people had suffered, despite all this being in the past, he wished he could've done something to help.

And that villain, the one called Xehanort, his manipulations and skill seemed to be at the same capacity as All for One. While he couldn't steal and give power like All for One, his accomplishments that Sora was aware of certainly put the now deceased villain at a dangerous level. Someone who had been willing to throw aside so many innocent lives, destroy so much life, to achieve his own views on how the world should've been forged? He was thankful that this Xehanort was dead, it would have been a nightmare had those two managed to meet each other and team up.

Especially if All for One was given access to these various worlds. He didn't want to imagine the damage that would be caused if that man was able to steal the abilities found in these various worlds, if they would be integrated as Quirks into his being. Even more dangerous if All for One would be capable of stealing Sora's power now that he was here in their world. The idea of that man being given something as dangerous as a Keyblade would certainly spill about the end of heroes.

"...but I don't think I still have my normal power now. What I showed you earlier was me trying to summon my Keyblade and while the shape was familiar, it wasn't the same thing. That voice in the Final World said that my power would've been converted so what was left could be saved and preserved. Honestly, entering another world has never affected my power like this, but I must've been so weakened that what was left in me got converted into a...what did ya call it again, a Quirk?"

All Might's internal musings were cut off as he heard Sora's question, having merely been giving nods and short responses when he had been asked if he was having trouble keeping up. This was certainly a lot to take in and he hoped Sora would allow him to borrow the Gummiphone for when he went to his friend and then the staff at U.A. High School to discuss these developments with Principal Nezu. He was one of the most intelligent heroes in all of Japan and he would be able to figure out how to best handle this. This information certainly couldn't be given to the public, which would mean they'd need to come up with a cover story.

"Ah, yes, that's right. To be honest, with only one display of your Quirk so far, I'm not entirely sure what your power exactly entails now. It definitely seems to be light based given your weapon from before was made out of it, but aside from that, we'd need to run some Quirk evaluations to determine the full extent of it now." There were several other things that would need to be addressed and he didn't want to overwhelm Sora all at once, especially since he was still recovering and adjusting.

"Right, it'll be good to see where I stand now so I can see how far I have to go before I can try and get back home." All Might flinched a bit at that, Sora's tone had become a bit melancholy as he had reached the end of his story, the last few weeks clearly having been rough on both him in body and spirit. The brief panic attack from earlier was likely the tip of the iceberg in that regard and whoever ended up taking care of Sora would need to be prepared for that.

The pro hero bowed his head at Sora, standing up from his seat. "Young Haruki, while I know we have only known each other for a short time, I would like to offer my deepest apologies for all of the hardships that you have been forced to endure. You have endured many things that would have broken most heroes and have managed to make it to now. No one should have to go through so much at such a young age and I promise I will do what I can to ensure you do not have to endure more hardships until you are able to return home."

Sora looked at All Might and smiled a bit, chuckling a bit as he was touched at the sincerity of his words. If he could make friends with people closer to his age that were like All Might, then he knew he'd be alright while he was here. He laughed a bit as a thought crossed his mind. "I appreciate that All Might, thank you. But...given my track record for meddling, I don't know if you should make promises like that."

All Might laughed at that, smiling a bit as he knew one of the things that they would need to do aside from a Quirk Evaluation is get Sora up to speed on the regulations that their society had on Quirks and their usage for non heroes. He knew that Sora had good intentions, but he didn't want to see the boy get in trouble with the law and not know what he did wrong. "Well, I'm sure we can manage to keep you out of trouble-"

The pro hero cut himself off as his body began to ache all over, steam beginning to emit from his body as his eyes widened in realization. _'Crap, did I seriously use up all of my time already?! I didn't realize that we had been talking for this long.'_

Sora looked at All Might as he seemed to be tensing up in pain, looking rather concerned for the older man. "A-Are you okay All Might?"

All Might kept his smile up as he knew he had about thirty seconds left in this form. _'Sora, you have entrusted so much to me despite us having just met and only having one conversation before now. I believe it is my duty to return that trust. Besides, at this point, I don't think I could get out of here without making a scene.'_

With that line of thought finished, All Might released his muscle form, going from a buff hero to a skeleton of a man. Sora's eyes widened as he raised and pointed a finger at the hero. "WHAAAAAAAAT?! All Might, what happened?!"

"Ssshhhh, not so loud! I'll explain what's going on, but you need to keep it down. Much like your own story, what I'm about to tell you is a closely guarded secret that only a few people know about." All Might breathed a sigh of relief as Sora nodded in understanding as Yagi got up and locked the door to the room. He didn't want someone walking in right now while they were talking.

"To start, my name is Yagi Toshinori, All Might is simply my Hero Name. The me that you saw before was due to my Quirk." Yagi raised his shirt and Sora's eyes widened at the horrific wound that he saw. "Five years ago, I sustained this wound against an incredibly terrifying villain and it was a miracle that the doctors managed to restore my health to the point that they did.

As a result of this injury, the time I can use my Quirk has been reduced to three hours a day. The knowledge of this battle and the injuries I suffered are not known to the public and only to a few select people. So if you could please refrain from telling anyone else about this, that would be good."

"Yeah, of course." Sora nodded as Yagi pulled down his shirt, covering the wound again. _'So, we're alike in that regard, both of us suffered injuries or had circumstances that caused us to lose our power.'_

"Now Young Haruki, I feel it is only fair that I let you know what our next steps are in regards to your case. I will be sharing this information only with Detective Naomasa and a few trusted colleagues at U.A. High School. After all, if we are going to intergrate you with our world while you're here, then the public will need to know something, obviously not the truth though. In addition, I'm hoping one of the staff members will be able to accommodate you in their home. I'd rather not see you placed into the foster system.

All of that should take around a day or so to get squared away, hopefully by tomorrow you'll be cleared for release, unless the doctors want to keep you for further observation. Once you're released and I've met with the U.A. faculty, we can figure out what you'll be doing next."

Sora remained silent for a few minutes after All Might finished explaining what he would be doing, as he thought about everything that he knew so far, crossing his arms a bit. There was so much he didn't know about this world, but already he admired the heroes here thanks to the impression that All Might had left on him. _'Even if I shouldn't get involved and focus on finding my way home, I don't know how long that will take. Plus, there's the matter of how I'd get my strength back to begin with. Right now, this is my best way forward, no matter how long it takes to get to where I'm going.'_

Sora looked at All Might with resolve in his eyes, smiling at the pro hero. His heart was made up on what he wanted to do now. If he was going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, best to make the most out of it. "All Might, what do I have to do to become a hero here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few updates in addition with this chapter, since we are now just a couple of chapters from being caught up to where this story is on Fanfiction.net.
> 
> I have opened a Tumblr where I will be posting sneak peeks of future chapters, but also any fan art I commission or receive for this story and a Discord Server to discuss not just this story, but ideas and future projects that I am working on, as well as to just chat and hang out. 
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/jb4yhuH  
> Tumblr: somecallitkye.tumblr.com


	4. Meetings! The First Friendship Formed!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The U.A. Staff discuss Sora's arrival and the implications that it could have for their world, while Sora receives another visitor at the hospital.

_The next day…_

_U.A. High School Faculty Meeting Room_

Yagi rubbed the back of his head as this emergency meeting he had called for with Principal Nezu and the rest of the faculty had still been going on after almost four hours. He knew that it was going to be at least two hours long once he had managed to condense Young Haruki's story down to just the key details, but he hadn't predicted how many questions and concerns would come from it.

It wasn't that no one here believed what they were being told, aside from All Might's recounting of what he was told the previous day, he had also been given the Gummiphone and had nearly overloaded it when he smiled to turn it on. That certainly would not have ended well. No everyone's current concerns on some of the details and implications of what Sora's arrival meant.

"If everyone's done postulating, I think we should go through the list of concerns and address them with what information we currently have." Aizawa spoke up, having been mostly quiet throughout this whole thing, merely keeping up with notes.

"I think that's an excellent idea, after all, right now we're going round and round like hamsters! Not that I'm a hamster mind you. You have the floor Aizawa." Nezu chuckled a bit as he sipped on his second cup of tea, his tone friendly enough. The rest of the teachers nodded.

"The most serious concern and one I heard most repeated, with Sora's arrival here, do we need to expect any of his enemies to come following after him? Between what's in his phone and what All Might relayed to use at the end of his story, there are a few we can cross off that list. This Organization XIII was confirmed to be defeated, considering Sora was directly involved with battling or redeeming each member. Aside from that, only one in their number had this Keyblade and Sora wasn't aware of a way to cross worldlines without one correct?"

The underground hero looked at All Might who merely nodded.

"That also eliminates Maleficent and any of her accomplices for the same reason. Furthermore, two of these four...creatures-" This was sounding far too much like an over complicated video game for his liking, but right now he was focused. "-the Unversed and Dream Eaters can't exist here. The source of the Unversed was defeated since he was part of the Organization and honestly, the whole Sleeping World thing is ridiculous, I for one find it illogical that our world has been stuck in a loop and no one's noticed a thing. So the Dream Eaters are out."

The rest of the staff nodded in agreement at that, so that was four out of six potential new threats already off the table. Though of course the main one that they were most concerned with were…

"The Heartless. According to Sora and the notes in this Journal on his phone, they are darkness in people's hearts made manifest. There are two variations of these, the Pureblood and the Emblem. I shouldn't need to explain how to tell them apart." Everyone had seen the symbols for each of those creatures, the Heartless symbol had been the one that had been the most memorized.

"Now I'm not sure if the Emblem variety could exist here unless they follow Sora here, but Pureblood Heartless could easily become a problem. We have no way of knowing if our own world has a Realm of Darkness and no way to find out either. On the off chance that we don't, then we can rule out Nobodies as well. Our main concern at this point is determining if Sora unintentionally woke up a hornet's nest by being here, since these things are attracted to the Keyblade. Whether we have our own Realm of Darkness or the Heartless from his worldline will somehow follow him here."

' _Such a problem child and I haven't even met him yet.'_

"Maybe there's a dimension sensing Quirk that we can find and have them check?"

"I don't think this would fall under a different dimension."

"Maybe a Quirk that utilizes shadows? They might have some sort of subconscious link with this place."

"Quirks come from our DNA, not from an outside source, that seems implausible at best."

And so the back and forth went between several of the staff for a few minutes, with Aizawa, Yagi, and Nezu being noticeably quiet. No one could come up with a good way to solve this dilemma and it wouldn't be practical to inform every pro hero of a threat that may not exist or come. Not to mention what villains would do if they learned about this, the kind of evil they could accomplish by using the Heartless was not a pleasant thought.

However, Yagi soon spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I believe we're safe on the Heartless front as well."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the Number One Hero, crossing his arms. "Care to explain or is this just more misplaced optimism?"

"Well you see…"

* * *

" _Well young man, becoming a Hero is quite the process. I'd be more than happy to go over that with you once you're out of the hospital. In the meantime, I think it's best that you focus on your recovery. With any luck you should be cleared for release within the next couple of days."_

_Sora chuckled a bit at that, not used to healing the old fashioned way like this. "Yeah, it's not like I'm in a rush or anything. Without my Keyblade, it's not like I know where to start looking to get home."_

_Yagi raised an eyebrow at that statement, tilting his head a bit. "But that weapon you summoned for me and my friend a few hours ago, was that not your Keyblade?"_

_Sora shook his head a bit. "It looks almost exactly like it, but in my heart...it doesn't feel the same. The light I was holding definitely felt familiar to whenever I'd summon my keyblade, but...I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's like I was pulling in the light from around me instead of within when I summoned it."_

_All Might nodded a bit, not fully understanding it, but then again this was a lot to take in at once. "I see."_

" _I don't know, I guess...it just showed up in that form because that's what I needed most at the time. I'm not sure if I can make other things yet with that light."_

* * *

"...and that's what he told me. At this point it seems likely that his Quirk is Light based in some regard, though to what extent we'll need a full Quirk evaluation to see. But he was clear when he said that he did not have his Keyblade." Yagi finished recalling the last bit of his conversation with Sora with crossed arms.

Aizawa was actually a bit impressed with his future co worker, for once he had actually used that head of his instead of going off a gut feeling. "So for the time being, we can cross the Heartless and by extension Nobodies off of the list. Without a keyblade, there's nothing to draw them here."

"I've been giving that some thought Eraserhead and I don't believe that our world has a Realm of Darkness to speak of or Heartless of its own. After all, one could say that the 'darkness' of our world has been Villains ever since Quirks came into being, with us Heroes being the ones to keep the 'light' safe. I don't believe Sora arriving here will do anything to disrupt this, both now and once he regains his true strength. In fact, I believe we may have quite the prospective student once the next school year starts."

Nezu finished speaking with a smile on his face and paws behind his back, completely certain of what he had just stated. Sora had already performed feats that most pro heroes would be hard pressed to repeat and while he was rough around the edges when it came to some of the duties of a hero in this world, his heart was certainly in the right place. And that could easily be remedied with the right education and training.

Yagu nodded in agreement with the principal's assessment as he had reached a similar conclusion after speaking with Sora personally. Aizawa on the other hand had a frown on his face, hand clenching his marker rather tightly. He certainly didn't approve of giving this problem child a free pass into U.A. just because of his past accomplishments.

"The boy doesn't even know what his own Quirk is yet, nor does he know anything about how heroes operate and conduct themselves here, nor our history. I do not want him getting into our school via recommendation, especially since we don't know when his power will reawaken. Imagine what would happen if the school year starts and then he just vanishes because he got his power back? We now have a drop out student that we can't feasibly explain to the public on why he vanished. If he's willing to put in the work to get into our school like everyone else, that's a different story entirely."

Aizawa didn't have anything personal against Sora, but the rest of the staff needed to face reality. This kid likely wasn't going to be here forever, he did have his own life and people that he needed to get back to. He simply didn't want to hand someone who could bail at the drop of a hat something that other students had been waiting their whole lives for. Even if they didn't take it seriously at first. Sora certainly had the heart to get into U.A., he would just need to prove it, Plus Ultra style.

Nezu looked at his colleague and nodded slightly, his expression looking a tad disappointed. He had reached a similar conclusion, but it wasn't one that he would've voiced like that. "That is a fair point. There are a few other issues with Sora's previous adventures that will make adapting a challenge for him, but that's something that we can work on with time. This discussion is one that can wait until we are closer to the entrance exams though." His tone left little room for debate on that, with Aizawa getting the message.

"Now, onto our next order of business, figuring out the cover story that we will be presenting to the police and media. All Might has informed me that there was more than one witness who saw Sora's arrival to our world and while this normally wouldn't cause an upset, one of the witnesses managed to get a video recording of Sora appearing out of nowhere. While he has agreed to keep his silence until our visitor is released from the hospital, we cannot guarantee if he will keep his silence after that, nor is it something we should force."

That was certainly a cause for whispers among the staff, Sora didn't need to be hounded by the media circus with what he was dealing with. In addition, the news would try to get as much information out of him as possible and he didn't seem like the type who could handle that type of pressure yet.

"Well didn't he say he was from an island? Are there any islands nearby that have had any natural disasters or villainous activity recently?"

"Actually, about a week ago there was a major tsunami that hit the small island town of Takarajima. From the last reports that the police received, there were multiple civilians unaccounted for despite multiple heroes reporting on the scene to search for them. If they don't turn up soon, more than likely the case will be declared cold and the missing persons being declared deceased." Nezu's tone was somber, it had certainly been a tragedy about what had happened. He looked over at Present Mic, the gears in his head already turning on what to do with this information.

"Well, since there are multiple civilians unaccounted for, couldn't we just throw the little listener in and claim him as a missing person?" Present Mic's suggestion was a simple, yet effective one. Sora's injuries had matched up well enough with being a natural disaster victim and they could easily attribute him showing up in the sky as a result of his Quirk. It was light based and he had been seen surrounded by light before he hit the water.

Plus, since the Quirk would be used in self defense in this case, the law wouldn't need to be applied to Sora. And with no family here to claim him and his 'home' in ruins and looking at months of reconstruction, it would be a simple matter for a foster guardian to take Sora in. Though the thought of putting someone that old in the foster system didn't really sit well with anyone.

"All Might would you be able to…" Nezu had started, before the hero nodded.

"Of course, I'll speak with Detective Naomasa once we're done with this meeting and run it past him. Though I have to ask, where will Young Haruki be placed? With how old he is, I'm not sure a foster home would be ideal."

"On that, we are in agreement. Sora will need a guardian who is aware of his situation and can properly care for him, while also helping him learn about our world." Nezu placed his paw under his chin, before he smiled and held his other paw up with a finger pointed up. "To that end, I believe one of us should take Sora in!"

Several seconds of silence passed, before multiple teachers began to exclaim surprise. The idea made perfect sense, but between their teaching duties and duties as pro heroes, who would have the time?

"I could certainly take him in, Sora seems like such a nice young man~"

"Midnight, you are not taking Sora in. He needs someone to take care of him, not someone who will constantly flirt with him."

Midnight scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit. "Oh? And you're volunteering for that Aizawa? Forgive me, but you don't exactly seem like the father hen type."

"Don't get sassy when you know I'm right, it's unbefitting of a U.A. Teacher. And no, I'm not. I highly doubt I would get along well with Sora. Our personalities would simply clash too much."

After that, the staff went back and forth for several minutes on who would be best qualified to take Sora in, since it would be a long term commitment and it wasn't a decision to be made lightly. The suggestion had been made multiple times for All Might to take the boy in, but he declined each time, stating that while the kid had taken a shine to him, he wouldn't be the best guardian to look after him.

"You know, I wouldn't mind looking after the little listener. Seems like a cool enough kid and besides, I'm sure we'd get along well." Present Mic had spoken up again, grinning a bit. From what they had been talking about, Sora seemed like he would be a good kid and easy to get along with. Plus, the kid was just as energetic as he was, meaning he should be able to keep up with his rapid pace teaching skill.

"Are you sure about this? This is a long term commitment you're agreeing to Present Mic. If you're not up for it, I'm sure I could-"

"Nah, it's fine Nezu! If I need any help I'll be sure to ask, but I'm sure me and Sora are gonna get along great!"

"Very well, Present Mic will therefore be assuming guardianship over Sora Haruki barring any complications. With that, I think it's safe to say that we can officially welcome Sora to our world now!"

* * *

_Hospital, Same Time_

Sora sighed a bit to himself as he laid in his hospital bed, wishing he had his phone right now so he could be doing something. His room didn't have any books or a television in it, which left him with little to do at the moment. Which led to him currently doing some light stretches in his room to at least try and move around a bit after having been stuck in bed for the last several days.

Thankfully, according to the doctors he wouldn't be stuck here for too long. They just needed to keep him one more day for observation and then he would be free to go the following morning. Though, where he was going to go was a different matter altogether.

All Might had explained to him that morning that he was going to a meeting with some staff members at U.A. High School to discuss his arrival and what his future living conditions would look like. He had reassured him multiple times that these people could be trusted and that his secret would be safe with them. That this was a necessity to ensure that he had the help he needed while he was here.

It wasn't like he distrusted the hero or anything, he was just nervous with so many people knowing his secrets. He didn't want to imagine someone deciding to target him to see if they could get his power. Or worse, if he got close to someone in this world and they got targeted because of him. He had already nearly lost Kairi to someone and that was an experience that he didn't want to repeat in his lifetime. He couldn't save anyone now if their heart was lost regardless.

' _No matter what happens, you have to accept it and move on._ '

Those words from Chirithy rang in his ears as he stretched his arms, the young man trying to keep his smile up. He had accepted what had happened before, thanks to his actions, Kairi was safe and he wouldn't look back at those choices with regret. He just wasn't sure what he would do if he failed to save someone here, friend or otherwise.

Before he could try and compose his thoughts, there was a knock on the door. "Sora, you have a visitor to see you. Think you're up for it?"

The hospital staff knew he had been dealing with a lot with all the constant questions from the police and All Might and were trying not to overwhelm him. Honestly though, visitors meant that he hopefully wouldn't be left alone with his thoughts. The distraction was certainly welcome right now. "Yeah, go ahead and send them in. Was just trying to do some stretching."

The nurse opened the door shortly after his response, a green haired kid around his age standing in the doorway. He seemed a bit unsure about being there, but after a few seconds he walked in as the nurse introduced him. "This is Izuku Midoriya, he was at the beach where you were rescued by All Might. He wanted to make sure that you were doing alright. I'll leave you two alone for a while, you know what to do if you need anything."

Sora nodded as the nurse closed the door behind Izuku, with Sora taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Thanks for coming to visit Midoriya-kun, it's a nice change of pace from the last couple of days."

"Y-Yeah, no problem, I'm glad you're doing better Haruki. You definitely look a lot better than when we found you."

"The nurse mentioned that you were at the beach, were you with All Might when I showed up?"

"Yeah, I actually managed to spot you first and started to run to save you, but All Might saw you and managed to get you to shore by the time I was on the beach. You really gave us a scare, looked like you were on death's door."

"To be honest, I didn't know if I was gonna make it myself. I definitely feel a lot better now though, can't say I'm used to having to go to a hospital. I've always been a fast healer." Then again, when you had access to healing magic, hospitals we're kind of a moot point. That was definitely going to be missed.

Izuku's expression turned a bit curious at that statement, the gears in his head turning as he started to wonder about Sora's Quirk. "So, you're Quirk is healing based? That can definitely be useful, would explain why your body was so exhausted when we found you despite what few bruises and cuts you have. I wonder if it uses your natural stamina to heal injuries or if it's something else…"

Sora just watched as Izuku started mumbling to himself, having only caught the beginnings of it before he completely lost track of what he was saying. He definitely seemed enthusiastic though, reminded him of himself a bit. "Midoriya-kun!"

"Oh gosh, I was doing it again wasn't I? I'm so sorry!" Izuku was trembling a bit as he realized he had been mumbling about Quirks again, clearly expecting some kind of negative backlash. All Sora did was laugh good naturedly at that.

"It's fine, it's kinda refreshing to see someone so interested in my abilities. But no, my Quirk isn't healing based, I just tend to be able to recover quicker than most people I've known. My Quirk is Light based."

Izuku's eyes seemed to widen at that, quickly pulling out a charred notebook and opening it and beginning to jot down notes inside of it. "So what exactly can your Quirk do?"

"Well um...that part I'm not really sure on." Sora paused for a moment as he looked at Izuku as he had stopped writing. "You see, until a little over a year ago, I was actually Quirkless."

"W-Wait, you were…"

"Yup, I was just a dull, ordinary boy as some of the adults put it, but my Quirk came in really late, was considered a big miracle. Unfortunately I wasn't really allowed to use it back home, so I don't really know what I can do with it. All Might's actually taking me to a Quirk Evaluation Center tomorrow so we can figure out the full extent of my Quirk."

Izuku nodded a bit as he looked Sora over, seeing him in a new light, knowing that he had been Quirkless for most of his life. "Say...um...sorry if this seems invasive, but do you want to be a hero too?"

Sora grinned a bit as he thought his answer, crossing his arms. When he had been growing up, he and his friends had wanted to leave the Islands to see other worlds, to explore. But after everything he had been through since getting the Keyblade, his mind was made up. Whether it was only in this world or for all the worlds out there once he could make it home, his path was clear.

"Well, honestly I wasn't sure when my Quirk came in, but after being saved by All Might...I want to be a hero that can keep everyone smiling! Someone who can give the chance for everyone to be happy. But...even if I had stayed Quirkless, that wouldn't change my resolve. Even if it was just a small difference I could make, I'd still do everything I could to become a hero."

Izuku was practically in tears at Sora's words, realizing how similar their stories were. Both of them had grown up Quirkless and despite that, despite Sora being years behind everyone else, he wanted to be a hero too. Meanwhile he was training to be able to accept One for All so that he could be a hero. The fact that there was someone he could relate too now, just inspired him to push himself harder so he could accept All Might's quirk.

"T-That's amazing Haruki-kun. I'm Quirkless too...but all my life people have been telling me I can't be a hero without a Quirk." He remembered exactly what Kacchan had told him a month ago, that he should take a swan dive off the roof and pray he was born with a Quirk in the next life. It was a bitter memory and one he wished he could forget, but it wasn't that easy. He'd just prove his best friend wrong!

Sora meanwhile scoffed at what Izuku said, shaking his head a bit. "Well those people are wrong. To me, being a hero isn't about how powerful you are or how flashy or any of that stuff. It's about how much heart you put into it." He grinned as he punched his chest a little to emphasize the point.

"You can have as much power as you want, but if you don't have the heart, I don't think you can call yourself a true hero. And Midoriya-kun, the fact that you were going to try and save me despite not having a Quirk. I think you're a lot closer to being a hero than those other people give you credit for."

Izuku looked shell shocked at those words, trembling at the positive words. "H-Haruki-kun...I...thank you! Let's become great heroes together!"

Sora smiled as he walked up to Izuku and took his hand in a sign of friendship. "Sounds great Midoriya-kun! Let's both do our best to achieve our dream!" Maybe being stuck here for awhile wouldn't be that bad, especially since he had already made a friend.


	5. Quirk Evaluation! Learn Your Limits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sora released from the hospital, he is taken to a Quirk Evaluation Center to determine what exactly his Quirk is, as well as meeting his new Guardian.

Sora was grinning as he sat in the back of the car that was currently taking him to where he would be tested to determine the full potential of his quirk. He had finally been released from the hospital that morning and finally felt back at 100%, at least physically. It was definitely nice to be out of the hospital gown and back in his normal clothes at least.

Detective Naomasa had been the one to pick him up from the hospital after he had been officially discharged, with him explaining that today would be a big day for him. Between getting tested for his quirk and meeting who he'd be staying with afterwards, it was certainly going to be a busy day to say the least. But after being stuck in a hospital for several days, he was itching to get back into the swing of things, even if it wasn't going to be that much.

"Sora, before we get to the testing facility, I should explain what we determined yesterday after several meetings. After all, we need to make sure your story is straight so no one gets suspicious about what you told us and where you came from." Tsukauchi spoke from the front of the vehicle, the drive to the facility being rather calm. And what needed to be said needed to be done while there was privacy and no chance of anyone listening.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Though depending on what you guys determined, we might need to modify it just a bit."

"...What did you tell Midoriya-kun yesterday while he was visiting you?"

Sora rubbed the back of head sheepishly as he looked out the car window. "Weeeeell, I may have told him that I was quirkless until I turned 14."

The detective simply sighed a bit at that confession as the car came to a stop due to the light. "Thankfully, that'll match up with what we have for your cover story. As of this morning, you're a former resident of Takarajima. It's a small island town off the coast that was hit by a natural disaster about a week ago. You were one of several declared missing after the tsunami that hit the town. You were drifting for a few days and ended up using your quirk to try and get to safety, since you were wrapped in light when you showed up in the sky, we can claim it as a side effect and since it was for self defense, no laws were technically broken."

Sora tilted his head a bit to try and get a better look at the detective as the car began to move again. That definitely hit close to home for him given how his adventure first started, his own islands being lost to the darkness. He'd just have to push those feelings aside though, the story was a good one to try and keep his cover.

"Since you were declared missing and all the records kept in that town were destroyed in the Tsunami, it'll be easy enough to cover entering you into the system and get your quirk registered once we have it evaluated. Once we finish the testing, you'll be meeting with the teacher at U.A. that's offered to take you in. I know you're not entirely familiar with the pro heroes yet, but you'll be staying with Present Mic."

'Present Mic? Huh, sounds energetic at least if his hero name has Mic in it. Or loud. Either way, I'm used to both so we'll probably get along fine.' Sora simply looked out the window as they were getting close to their destination, wondering what this Present Mic was like. He assumed he'd find out his actual name once they met, unless he wanted to be called Present Mic.

"Lastly and this is the important part, turns out there were a lot more witnesses than we thought when you first showed up. One of whom managed to get video footage of you appearing out of nowhere. The witness who did promised to withhold it until you were released from the hospital, but we aren't sure if he is going to go to the media with this story. So for the sake of your privacy, tomorrow we'll be doing an official announcement of your case to the public. You might have some attention on you for awhile, but the media should let it go after a few days and no one should pester you for details."

He really hoped not, having to lie and cover his tracks so much was against his nature, but he knew why they wanted to do so. Aside from preserving the world order, he didn't know what kind of evil in this world would try and exploit his power or knowledge if they found out. Thankfully without a Keyblade, the former would be difficult if not impossible. "So, who knows exactly my...well, everything right now?"

"Aside from myself and All Might, just the teaching staff at U.A. High School since All Might will be starting as a teacher there come the new school year. Please make sure to keep that to yourself, that hasn't been made public knowledge yet. They've all agreed to secrecy and will only reveal any information about you to others with your approval and only with you present to interject so no one accidentally oversteps."

"I see, well at least that means I won't have to lie to any teachers or anything like that once I get into U.A." It was a massive relief to him, the less lying he had to do the better, especially to authority figures. There was a tone of confidence as well, that he was just certain that he would get into the hero school. Something that the detective seemed to pick up on.

"Well, you seem to be pretty confident about your chances. You're that sure you'll end up getting into the Hero Course?"

"I mean, my track record speaks for itself. I'm not sure what the exam is like, but I'm sure I'll pass with flying colors!" He was strongly ignoring the fact that historically since obtaining the Keyblade, he had failed every exam he had taken. The Mark of Mastery being at the front of his mind.

"Well, first you'll need to figure out the limits of your quirk so you can determine how to use it effectively. The examination today should help with that. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about the written exam that you'll need to take."

Sora's face froze in abject horror at being told there was a written exam that he would have to take, remembering that aside from the short time he had been back on Destiny Islands, he hadn't been in school proper for over a year. Not to mention all the things he would need to learn about this world so he could properly blend in. He sunk into the seat a little as he fully realized just how behind he likely was compared to other kids in this world. "I'm doomed…"

Tsukauchi merely laughed at Sora's dejected tone, not thinking that the kid would be so concerned about it. With how old Sora was, his education level should've been around a 2nd year middle schooler, if not tettering on a 3rd year's level. "Well, I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting caught up, I don't think you'd be that behind in regular schooling."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence. It's just going to be really weird studying again. Well, at least things that aren't fighting or magic." Honestly, he was partially dreading having to do schoolwork again after being away from it for so long. He was so used to fighting and travelling from world to world, having to worry about something as mundane as school would need a bit of an adjustment period.

"Well, right now we're still determining if enrolling you late in a public school or having you do self study at your place of residence would be better. We'll likely be administering a test to you within the week to see where your current knowledge set is at. If it's close enough to where a third year middle schooler should be, there shouldn't be any issue with getting you enrolled a bit late into the school year."

"That's not too bad at le-"

"So long as you don't mind having a lot of make-up work and studying to do."

Sora just groaned at that, leaning his head against the car seat. He would be fine with it if it came down to it, but couldn't he just worry about getting home? Then worry about schoolwork once he was back?

Naomasa merely chuckled, glad that Sora seemed to be handling all of this well, pulling into a parking lot and stopping the vehicle they were in. "Either way, I think you'll be fine. Now, we're here. I'll take you to see Doctor Ashla who has agreed to oversee your unique examination. Once you're with her, just follow her instructions and everything should be over quickly. When you finish the examination, Present Mic should be here to meet you."

Sora nodded as he got out of the car and stretched as he followed the Detective into the facility, looking forward to this specific test, feeling like it was one that'd be impossible to fail. Well, he guessed he could fail if his quirk was weak, but he doubted that would be the case. It might be weak now from the state he had been in before, but he tended to spring back on his feet rather quickly.

After a few minutes of walking, the two men met up with the doctor who'd be overseeing the examination. She was slightly taller than Sora with short blonde hair with green highlights that was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a typical doctor's lab coat and was currently wearing glasses while holding a clipboard.

"Ah, Naomasa-sama, Haruki-kun, it's good to see both of you. I'm Dr. Ashla and I'll be overseeing your quirk examination today." Dr. Ashla glanced down at her clipboard and seemed to be tapping at it with her pen, before looking back at the Detective. "Oh, Naomasa-sama, if you want to head to the observation station, the others should be waiting for you."

"You weren't supposed to mention tha-"

"And after what Haruki-kun shared with you, I'm surprised that you're keeping secrets from him, especially such an innocent one." Dr. Ashla put her free hand on her hip, looking rather annoyed with Naomasa. After a few seconds, she sighed and began to walk away, with Sora quickly following after an awkward hand wave to the Detective, who just sighed and began to head in a different direction. Why did he always seem to get the interesting cases?

Sora put his arms behind his head as he followed the doctor, raising an eyebrow. "So, what exactly was that all about?"

"Well, I was informed about your...special condition." Sora grimaced at that and the specific wording, wondering if the Detective had been lying to him when he was saying who knew his secret. He seemed trustworthy enough, but he was still nervous given he'd only been here for a few days. "Awakening your quirk at the age of fourteen? I mean, that's practically unheard of! Honestly, I'm just honored that I get to oversee your quirk examination. Plus, if the speculation on your quirk is accurate, then I was really one of the best candidates to oversee this examination. And since this is such a rare case, you have a few people who wanted to observe."

Well, that was certainly a relief. "Wait, why would you be one of the best people to oversee my exam? And what exactly do you think my quirk is?"

"Lemme answer those in the opposite order. The detective and All Might reported that when you made that odd shaped sword, it looked to be made out of light. My best hunch is that you can use existing light to make constructs, the more light or stronger said light is, the better quality of the construct. Though I am curious as to why you made your weapon shaped like a key. I mean, I guess it could be useful if you need to bash a door open instead of opening it normally. And that doesn't exactly explain why you were wrapped in light when you were found."

Dr. Ashla was starting to ramble a little, as Sora raised an eyebrow as the two started to head into a dark room. The young man had to squint his eyes to try and make anything out, wondering if the power had gone out or something.

"As for why I was one of the best to oversee your test, well a demonstration would be best." The doctor smirked a bit as she focused on calling on her quirk, the room beginning to become brighter. However, there were no lights or ceiling windows or any other sources of light that would allow light into the room. Sora looked around for a few moments, before he noticed that the doctor was nearly as bright as the sun, but lacking any of the heat that would come with it.

Sora let out a gasp of surprise as he started to put the pieces together. "You see, my quirk is more of a neat party trick than anything, I can produce natural light from my body, but none of the heat or other side effects. Aside from lighting up a room or causing a quick glare to blind someone, not useful for much. Now, since we're speculating your quirk runs off of light, having someone like me who can produce light seemed like a good call. Using electrical lights would take longer and might give some inaccurate results."

The doctor smiled as she stopped producing light, returning the room to near total darkness with only the light from the nearby hallway getting into the room. "Alright so first thing I wanna check, go ahead and try and summon that key shaped sword that the detective told me about."

Sora nodded and held out his hand, before tilting his head a bit. Since it wasn't actually his Keyblade, it wouldn't hurt to tell her what to call it right? "Oh, just call it a keyblade, less of a mouthful."

"Keyblade...keyblade...yeah, I can see it! Are we going to have to make sure you don't unlock anyone's death young man?" The doctor laughed a bit at the joke, while Sora paled at the implication, hoping to avoid killing people if at all possible. "Oh relax, I was just kidding. I don't think you'd do something like that on purpose either way, you seem too nice for it."

Sora smiled at that as he continued to try and summon his weapon, gritting his teeth as he tried to focus and summon it. 'Why can't I feel anything? This is just like in the hospital, I can't feel any light!" A couple of minutes passed and all Sora managed to produce was a small orb, about the size of a golf ball.

The doctor looked at the orb inquisitively, while Sora had sweet rolling down his forehead, trying to hide his exhaustion. This orb of light was...different from when he had summoned his weapon back in the hospital room. Or the orb he had made while in his room as well. Those had felt like they were drawn towards him, like he was calling the light around him. But this, it was like he had called upon the light from his heart to make this orb. Was there really this little left? Or was his heart truly so damaged to where he could only call upon a small amount of light from within himself?

With a sigh, Sora let the orb collapse as he felt the light return to his heart, exhaustion slowly being replaced by energy again. All the while the doctor was furiously scribbling notes onto her clipboard. "Alright, so looks like that theory was right, you're limited by the amount of light in a given area. Honestly given it's pitch black in here, I'm amazed that you were able to conjure anything since you've only had your quirk for a year.. My guess is that would be your natural limit without any existing light to work with. Sooooo, don't get attacked at night until you can get your natural limit built up. Not that you should be using your quirk anyway unless you decide to go into the hero gig."

Dr. Ashla gave a grin as she activated her quirk again and produced a dim light, not enough to fully illuminate the whole room, but enough to cover about a 30 foot radius. "Alright, go ahead and give it another shot kid. Pretty sure this should be more than enough light."

Sora nodded and began to focus again, the keyblade appearing in an instant, once more wrapped in light. 'Guess this is how it's gonna look by default now. Though I wonder…' He focused on his weapon, trying to will it to change into one of his many other keyblades that he had carried throughout his journeys to no avail. He failed to notice that the amount of light in the room hadn't changed, something that the doctor was noting on her clipboard.

"Wow, much faster than when you were trying to do that in the dark and you managed to manifest what I assume is the whole thing. Looks like it doesn't consume any light in the area which is a plus. Now, can you try to make something else? Can be anything really, even another weapon. Normally for most people going through their first quirk evaluation we'd end it here, but since you're such a late bloomer, it'll be good for you to know your limits. Don't want to accidentally hurt anyone right?"

"Right!" Sora held out his other hand to try to make another Kingdom Key and felt nothing coming. He could feel the light around him when he focused on it, but when he tried to call on it, nothing happened. 'Alright, dual wielding is out, let's try a barrier.' Nothing, not even a spark. 'Alright, sword then.' Nothing. 'An orb?!' Nothing.

"Come on, I can feel it, but I can't seem to draw it in." The young man had his eyes closed now as he was focusing with all his heart, but still getting nowhere in forming another object. Several minutes passed with nothing forming, but his current construct was still present at least, his hand clenched tightly around it like it was some kind of lifeline. The doctor had been watching for the last few minutes, ready to write down any changes that took place, but her pen had yet to move an inch.

"Alright, you can go ahead and stop now. Seems like your current limit is one construct at a time. Perfectly understandable, you've only had your quirk for a little over a year and from the sounds of it, you never really got a chance to test it out even after you got it. I'm sure with enough hard work and practice you'll be able to get that number up in no time!" Dr. Dr. Ashla gave Sora a thumbs up with a cheeky grin, with Sora merely nodding and preparing to desummon his weapon. Something that the doctor quickly took notice of.

"Nononono, leave it out for a bit longer! I'm gonna start to decrease the amount of light that I'm giving off. All I need you to do is to try and keep that thing stable for as long as possible. We need to see if you can keep a construct active without any light around." The older woman didn't wait for Sora to reply to her statement, merely proceeding to dim her light, causing the darkness to slowly envelop the room again.

Sora merely nodded and began to focus on keeping his Keyblade summoned while Dr. Ashla made sure to keep track of the amount of light in the room. She was currently producing enough light to cover about twenty feet and there didn't seem to be a change yet. They needed to determine if there was any sort of limit in size that would be tied with the amount of light available. Or if Sora would be able to hold an existing construct when he ran out of light.

Her instructions from the detective had been rather specific and it had been requested by the principal of U.A. High School who was currently observing this in one of the observation decks along with All Might of all people. While she was honored that she had so many big wigs viewing this, it did also seem a bit suspicious. Still, it was for a kid who from what she had been told, had been through a lot recently with losing his home and being quite injured in the process. Helping with this just seemed right, even if it was a bit suspicious.

She made a note that the light being produced was now only enough to cover a ten foot radius and she could tell that Sora was beginning to struggle slightly. He was certainly focused on keeping his weapon stable, but how much longer would it last? She dimmed the light further down to where it was only illuminating five feet and she noticed that the weapon was beginning to visibly crack while Sora was starting to be coated in sweat again. She wondered if these constructs could be destroyed with enough damage applied to them, but that would be something for Sora to find out later.

As she kept dimming the light, the cracks continued to form and grow and when the light only covered three feet in the room and leaving Sora in relative darkness, the weapon shattered. The young man fell back onto the ground into a sitting position, panting a bit as Ashla immediately illuminated the entire room before kneeling down by his side. "Sora, are you alright?"

Sora nodded as he wiped some of the sweat off of his forehead, his breathing a bit fast as he no longer had to focus on keeping his keyblade summoned. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need a few seconds, didn't think the strain would hit that hard."

Dr. Ashla nodded a bit as she made some more notes on her clipboard. "So, I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, but it appears that the less light you have to work with, the less stable your construct. Or there is some form of time limit, but that seems much less likely. In addition, from how your weapon seemed to crack, it would be safe to assume that if the construct takes too much damage, it will break."

"Well, guess that just means I'll need to make sure I don't get into any fights then until I have this better under control." Sora stood up again as he thought about his current skill set. 'So, I'm limited to one thing at a time and that thing has a limit before it breaks. As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a time limit, but I'll have to test it later.' It would certainly hamper how he normally tended to fight, especially since it seemed like he'd no longer be able to change weapons on the fly.

There were a couple of things he was curious about though, he needed to see if his Flowmotion and his keyblade transformations would still work here. Just because he couldn't make more than one thing right now, didn't mean that his other abilities were lost. "Hey doc, is it alright if I try a couple of things really quick? There are a couple of ideas I have and it'd probably be better to test it in a controlled environment."

"I don't see why not, there was one last thing I wanted to test anyway, see what the biggest thing was that you could make. We can cover that last as I'm pretty sure it's gonna lead to quirk exhaustion if the last test was anything to go by." At this point, Dr. Ashla was keeping herself bright enough to illuminate the entire room as she quickly moved out of the way. The room was rather spacious, but she didn't want to get in Sora's way.

Sora appreciated the doctor giving him some space, he didn't know what would happen when he tried this and he'd rather make sure she didn't get hurt because of him. 'Guess I should thank Xemnas for this one.' Holding out his right arm, he focused for an instant before a barrier of light formed, looking nearly identical to what Xemnas would create.

As soon as it was made, Sora took a few steps back and jumped into the barrier, feet landing onto it. The second his feet touched, his body was wrapped in a familiar blue light, with Sora grinning. "Yeah, it worked!" Sora immediately shot forward at a high speed, aiming towards the closest wall to see if he could bounce off of that as well. Unfortunately when his hands met with the wall to push off of it, the light faded and the next thing he knew, he had slammed head first into the wall and was now sliding towards the ground.

"I'm okay, I'm okay…" Sora slowly tried to stand up to get his bearings, only for his world to start spinning as he fell to the ground again. He didn't remember flowmotion ever hurting this much. Or at all really. "I'm not okay!"

Dr. Ashla sighed as she started to walk over towards Sora, writing a few notes down on her clipboard while having a slight frown on her face, trying to suppress a laugh. At least this could explain why he was wrapped in light when he was first found, apparently propelling himself off of his own light constructs increased his speed and mobility. "Haruki-kun, that was incredibly reckless! If I would've known you were going to shoot yourself at the wall, I would've gotten you a helmet. Still, hopefully you learned your lesson from this."

"Yeah, make sure I get a harder head." Sora replied with a bit of a grin on his face before the two started to laugh a bit. He managed to stand up after a couple of minutes, shaking his head a bit. 'Looks like flowmotion will only work if I use my light constructs for it. Until I can get used to creating and dispelling them on the fly, I'm gonna be limited to one use at a time.'

The brunet glanced over at where the barrier was and dispelled it, sighing to himself as he looked at the doctor who had a grin on her face. "So, was there anything else crazy you wanted to try? Should I get you one of those bubble ball things so you don't give yourself a concussion?"

"No no, not gonna do anything like that again. There's just one thing I want to try to make and then I'll try to make a big construct. Honestly, I'd rather not hit my head on anything else for a while."

The doctor simply gave a nod of approval as she stepped over to the side as Sora began to focus on what he was trying to make. Since he couldn't make more than one thing right now, anything that required two things like the twin blasters were out, but maybe he could manage to recreate some of his other keyblade transformations. Light began to take shape around his hands, slowly filling in and becoming solid. This one took about fifteen seconds to make due to the complexity of it, but eventually it was complete.

He was now holding the Magic Launcher in his hands, the equivalent of a carriable canon that had quite the detailed design on it. It wasn't heavy either, he could definitely swing it around as a blunt weapon like he could with his Kingdom Key, but he wanted to test something else. "Dr. Ashla, you should probably stand back a bit further."

The weapon began to spin and churn as Sora gripped the handle tightly, aiming it almost like a missle launcher. The doctor began to back away slowly, her voice a mix of fear and excitement at what Sora was doing. "Mr. Haruki, what exactly are you doing?"

"Firing main cannon." Sora's response was a simple one as a large orb of light shot from the cannon and sped forward, before exploding after it had travelled about fifty feet. When the explosion went off, several beams of light shot off from the orb and traveled a few feet before dissipating entirely. The only visible trace that there had been an explosion was the scorch mark on the ground from where the orb had moved close to it and the blast zone.

Sora had the biggest grin on his face as the weapon broke apart, the young man jumping into the air and pumping his fist. "Alright, that worked!"

While Sora was celebrating, Dr. Ashla walked over to him and scribbled a few more notes down on her clipboard...before immediately hitting Sora on the head with it. "What did you do?! You are so lucky that thing went off before it hit the walls because otherwise there would be so much property damage to pay for. I swear, kids these days are so reckless."

"Sorry, sorry! I just thought that if I couldn't make more than one thing at a time, then maybe I could make a thing that can shoot projectiles. That was just the first thing that came to mind and it seemed to work." Sora gave a sheepish grin, before letting out a yelp as he was whacked with the clipboard again.

"And you couldn't just make a bow and arrow or dart gun or something less dangerous than a missle launcher?! I swear, you're gonna be making plenty of trips to the hospital at this rate." The doctor sighed as she ran a hand through her hair with her free hand, giving Sora a wary look. "Now...just try to make a construct as large as you can. Without blowing up the building if at all possible."

"Um...yeah, of course." Sora walked to the center of the room as the doctor made sure to make as much space between herself and Sora as possible. She trusted the young man, but being so close to an explosion had rattled her a bit. Better to be safe than sorry after that little scare.

Sora meanwhile had begun to focus, trying to call upon one of his attractions that he had grown accustomed to using during his last adventure. Those were some of the biggest things he could think of and if he could manage to create a pirate ship of all things, then anything else should be easy by comparison.

'Alright, if I'm gonna do this, should probably start with just the edges of the ship, make an outline. From there, I should just need to fill it in. Don't need to make it look fancy, just need it to be functional.' Sora began to give the light form as he began to create the outline of the ship. It was going to take up a lot of space, but the whole thing should be able to fit without anything getting crushed or damaged.

However, the outline was taking far longer to make than any of his other constructs had thus far, he had made out 30% of the outline but his muscles we're starting to feel strained and ache all over. The construct was already beginning to become unstable, with Sora having to put all of his focus in just keeping what he had together.

Another few seconds later, the outline shattered and Sora was falling towards the ground, feeling completely drained now with his energy leaving him rapidly. "What...happened…?" Sora's voice was quiet as Dr. Ashla barely managed to get to him in time to prop him up before his head hit the ground.

"Quirk exhaustion, you pushed yourself to your limit trying to make that and your body couldn't keep up with the strain you were putting on it. You're gonna feel out of it for a while." Sora could hear what the doctor was saying, but her voice seemed distant, vision growing dark as he passed out from the exhaustion. The last thing he saw was the light dimming, unsure if it was Dr. Ashla turning off her quirk or something else.

* * *

Sora woke up later in an infirmary, groaning as he felt sore all over as he slowly sat up. "Urgh, I feel like I got hit by a train."

"Boat, but honestly close enough. You gave us a little scare there, normally quirk exhaustion doesn't make someone collapse that bad unless they go really far past their limit." Dr. Ashla responded from across the room, currently checking a few things on a monitor, before locking the computer and walking over to Sora with something in her hand.

"Anyway, you've been out for about two hours now and your guardian has been waiting outside for you to wake up. Before that though, you'll be happy to know that your quirk is now officially registered and we have an ID for you." The doctor smiled as she held out the plastic card to Sora, who took it and looked it over.

_Name: Sora Haruki  
Birth Date: 03/28/XXXX_

_Blood Type: O_

All of the information that was the ID so far was pretty typical, there was an address and some other info on there, likely all Present Mic's since he was going to be living with him for the foreseeable future. At the bottom of the ID though was what made his heart leap a little.

_Quirk: Bonds of Light_

What they had decided to call his quirk, meant far more to him then most people would probably realize. Sora had always cared about the bonds that he had made, so for his quirk to be a representation of that, at least in his mind, meant the world to him. He teared up a little as his gaze lingered on it for just a little bit longer, before sliding the ID into his pocket. "Thanks Dr. Ashla, I appreciate it."

"No problem Haruki-kun, just try to avoid ending up in the hospital and we'll be go-"

Before the doctor could finish her sentence, the door slammed open with Present Mic running in, looking between Sora and Dr. Ashla. "Doc, you said you'd let me know when the little listener was awake!"

Ashla just sighed as she adjusted her glasses a bit, looking at the pro hero critically. "He just woke up a couple of minutes ago. Besides, I wanted to let him have a little peace and quiet. You're lucky I even let you wait outside after how loud you screamed earlier."

"Oh come on, I wasn't using my quirk! And I already said I'm sorry." Present Mic was definitely trying to appease the angry doctor, before looking at Sora. "Anyway, good to meet ya little listener. I'm Present Mic, your new guardian for the foreseeable future."

Sora looked felt his eyes going wide in amazement at Present Mic, from how stylish his hair was, his cool outfit, the speakers that seemed to be around his neck, the cool headphones, it was just all so exciting! The kid practically had stars in his eyes as he took it all in. "So cool!"

Present Mic smirked a bit at Sora's response, having no doubt that the two of them would get along great. If what he had witnessed during his quirk examination was anything to go by, Sora would easily keep up with the energy he always gave. "Glad you approve Sora! Gotta say, that was some crazy stuff you pulled off in there. Totally out of this world!"

Sora was about to wince at that, before he remembered that Present Mic was in on the loop since he was one of U.A.'s staff members. Before he could respond though, Dr. Ashla coughed a bit. "Out of this world or not, you certainly have an interesting and flashy quirk. It seems like you have a handle on control so we shouldn't have to worry about it going off randomly in public. Just don't pull any crazy stunts until you get your hero license okay?"

Sora gave her a confused look. "What made you think I was aiming to be a hero?"

Before the doctor could respond, Mic immediately interjected. "You already got a special attack made up Sora! That light bazooka thing definitely looks like it packs a punch. Most kids who come up with stuff like that tend to gravitate towards getting into the Hero business. Heck I remember when me and my friend Sho-"

Dr. Ashla silenced the pro hero with a thwack to the back of his head with her clipboard, which didn't look any worse for wear despite how much she had used it to hit both Sora and now Present Mic that day. "Anyway, you seem to be doing fine now Haruki-kun. Just remember that you're only allowed to use your quirk in self defense and if you have to use it, try not to do anything like that giant cannon. I don't think something that excessive will fall under self defense."

"Right, thanks for everything Dr. Ashla, I really appreciate your help. And sorry for scorching up your exam room."

"Ah, don't worry about it kid. Wasn't the first time it's happened and it won't be the last either." With that Dr. Ashla started to head out of the room, expecting the other two to follow shortly after.

"So, you ready to see your new home Sora?"

'Home…' The word felt weird to Sora, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to start thinking of this place as home. Sure all the people he had met so far seemed really nice and it seemed like a good place, but his home was back with his friends. Still, depending on how long he was going to be here, he'd have to accept it sooner or later. Besides, his friends were safe, what did he have to worry about?

"Yeah, I'm ready." Sora got off of the cot that he had been sitting on since awakening and began to follow Present Mic out of the room before everything seemed to slow down. There was a sharp pain in his chest, almost like it was tightening before the feeling faded. He put a hand over his chest as he walked out of the room, trying to keep a smile on his face despite his thoughts being anything but.

'Guys...don't tell me something happened before I made it back home.'


	6. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora experiences his worst fears during the first night in his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are with the next chapter of Awaken the Light, where I probably deserve suffering after what I've done to Sora in this chapter. For those curious, at the end of last chapter, what Sora felt was when Kairi went into her willing coma that was mentioned during the Limit Cut Episode of KH3 ReMind. Which has led to what you're about to read in this chapter.

_ Sora was falling. He wasn’t sure how long he had been falling, but he had been falling in the endless abyss. It had all started when he had arrived at his Station of Awakening, but it was different compared to before. It was completely shattered, broken into various pieces, with some completely missing. Like his heart had been fractured and damaged beyond repair. That wasn’t what had horrified him however. _

_ No, it was that his friend's faces that had been on in his heart for so long were now gone. Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy were all wiped away, leaving blank spaces on his heart. He had hesitantly taken a few steps around to see if he could find their missing faces or any missing parts of his platform when the section he was on collapsed from under his feet, sending him falling into the darkness.  _

_ After what felt like an eternity, Sora finally reached the next location, the Keyblade Graveyard. But it was different, not like when he had gone back in time to rescue Kairi, this felt wrong, like a chill encompassing his heart. He didn’t get time to think about what was going on however, as a massive swarm of Heartless began to stalk towards him, yellow eyes gleaming. _

_ He extended his arm and tried to call upon his Keyblade, but nothing appeared. His heart was pounding as he tried to force something to happen, but nothing did. No Keyblade, no magic, no matter what he tried to do, nothing would happen. It wasn’t until the hoarde was nearly upon him that his legs were moving in the other direction, towards the labyrinth that Xehanort had created. He wanted to fight, stop these things however he could, but right now he was powerless. Helpless.  _ **_USELESS_ ** _. _

_ ‘Donald...Goofy...anyone, please help!’ He was getting closer to the entrance of the labyrinth, but the Heartless swarm was getting closer and closer. He could practically feel their claws brushing against him as they were mere inches away from him now. He wasn’t going to make it, he was going to die here. _

_ “GO SORA!” “ZETTASTORM!”  _

_ Sora’s eyes widened as he felt the metal of Goofy’s shield push against his back, sending him flying into the labyrinth. He was able to turn his head in time to see his friends begin to try and hold off the hoarde. Massive bolts of lightning and extreme gusts of winds that were nearly generating tornadoes were beginning to rage all around as purple and yellow runes surrounded Donald. Massive amounts of Heartless were being obliterated in droves, however the strain on the wizard was becoming obvious and it wasn’t something he could keep up for long. _

_ Goofy meanwhile was currently doing his best to keep the Heartless that were managing to evade Donald’s spell from getting to the labyrinth’s entrance. His shield was like a wall, nothing moving past it as the royal captain bashed every Heartless that came close. When one nearly got past his spot, it was immediately met with the shield grinding against it before it was destroyed. The shield was not indestructible though and with every blow that it stopped, every Heartless that was destroyed, the shield was chipped away. Piece by piece, it would only last for so long before it was destroyed. _

_ And all Sora could do was watch helplessly as the labyrinth entrance began to close. He wanted to go out there and help, but his power still wouldn’t come to him. It felt like days passed for him, but it was scant minutes. The runes around Donald began to fade, while Goofy’s shield was half destroyed with the rest soon to follow. The last that Sora saw of his friends was the Heartless overwhelming their defense as the wall slammed shut. _

_ “NOOOOOOOOOO!” Sora wailed as he had practically watched his friends die and it was all because of him. Because he couldn’t be there for them.  _

_ The next few moments passed by faster than he could follow as he was forced deeper into the labyrinth, deeper into despair. The next thing he knew, he was watching Riku fight against Xigbar and his replica all alone and he was losing, badly. Without being able to get into the arena, he could only watch his friend fight...and lose. _

_ Soon enough, Riku was disarmed of his Keyblade as the replica stood triumphantly over him, foot stomped on his chest and holding his blade at his throat. The look on his face was smug as he looked down on his opponent, having longed for this moment. “Well, looks like I’m the real one after all.” _

_ Riku glared up at his replica, panting in exhaustion as he tried to summon his Keyblade back to him, but all that resulted in was the replica stomping on his chest harder. To the clapping of Xigbar, who had now desummoned his arrowguns, the weapons no longer needed. With his one eye glaring at Sora, a smirk on his face. _

_ “Good job kid, he’s all yours. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some final preparations to make.” And with that, the sharpshooter was gone, leaving the two Riku’s alone with Sora unable to do anything except watch what happened next.  _

_ Riku Replica now had his blade pressed against Riku’s throat, not hard enough to draw blood yet, but it was certainly enough to cause discomfort. “So, the new world won’t need two of us and I don’t think Xehanort wants any Guardians coming along for the ride. Besides, you’ve already clashed with two darknesses, I’m sure he won’t mind if you’re taken off the board.” _

_ “You won’t...win…the others will...stop you…” Riku glared at his doppleganger as his tone was enraged, defiant to the end. Even if he failed, the others could still pull through and stop the Organization.  _

_ “You sound so sure of that you fake. But the others are falling as we speak, there’s no hope left for any of you. After all, Sora left you to this fate.” Riku Replica raised his blade up as Riku’s eyes widened at the implication of his replica’s words. _

_ “Sora wouldn-” “RIKU!” Before Riku could finish defending his closest friend, the replica silently shoved his sword through Riku’s throat, decapitating him with the darkest look on his face as he sneered at the sobbing Sora, the brunet still unable to enter the arena. His hands were pounding on an invisible barrier, while the replica began to cackle.  _

_ “Well, look at that. Ready to defend you to the bitter end when you just left him to die. Well, go on, sure you got more friends just waiting to be let down.” With that, Riku Replica vanished in a dark corridor while Sora was whisked to the next area in the labyrinth. He couldn’t stop crying now, he had been forced to watch three of his closest friends die. And the sinking feeling in his stomach told him that it wasn’t going to get any better. _

_ The next thing he saw was Mickey fighting against Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene, the Keyblade Master struggling to fight against all three of them at once, especially now that the former had been granted additional power by Xemnas. The King was a skilled fighter and his small stature and speed had enabled him to outpace his three opponents, but without help it was a fruitless endeavor.  _

_ A stray knife cut here, a slash of the scythe there, fighting three on one was clearly taking its toll. Especially with Luxord now powered up, Mickey knew that if one of those cards made contact, the result wouldn’t be good. In his mind, it was better to take a few small hits here and there than to risk being taken out of the fight entirely. Especially if he could hold out until help came. _

_ Unfortunately, that help would not be coming, with Sora being unable to enter, Mickey was fighting what would be his final battle. The king was panting as Larxene and Marluxia smirked, with the former throwing her knives to surround Mickey while Marluxia began to open dark pools of energy that had thorns at the edge of each pool. Before the King could react, pillars of lighting and pillars or thorns were surrounding him on all sides, leaving him with no way to get out. _

_ Which made the perfect opening for Luxord to finally trap the mouse in a special cage and put an end to this battle. With a flick of the wrist, a single card was sent flying at Mickey from his blind spot, the object cutting through the lightning with Mickey barely noticing it in time to block it. But a point of contact was all that was needed thanks to his increased power.  _

_ “Well, it looks like this game is over. Such a shame, perhaps with a second player, you could have come out on top.” Luxord looked directly at Sora as the card began to emit a purple light before Mickey became enveloped by it and sucked into the card, the last thing anyone would hear the King say being nothing more than a panicked scream. _

_ “MICKEY!!!” Sora could only watch as the card now showed Mickey floating and encircled by nothingness, eyes closed. Luxord merely chuckled as the card returned to his hand, before nodding to Marluxia and Larxene who proceeded to vanish in a corridor of darkness as the two were no longer needed here.  _

_ “Let him go Luxord!” Sora pounded on the invisible barrier with tears streaming down his eyes, this tantrum being all he could do to try and save one of his friends. He had failed so many already, he couldn’t fail another one. _

_ “Let him go? But Sora, you have nothing to offer us in exchange. After all, you can’t fight us, thus meaning you cannot help forge the x-blade. In fact, you no longer have a Keyblade to speak of, do you? I wonder, just how many more of your friends will pay for your weakness?” The gambler gave a smirk as his hands began to pull at two separate ends of the card, his intentions clear as crystal. He was going to rip the card in two and in the process, kill Mickey Mouse. _

_ “ _ **_STOP IT!”_ ** _ Sora’s eyes flared yellow for a second as he glared at Luxord, the Nobody seemingly unresponsive to the explosive moment. A second passed. And another. And then the worst sound possible in that moment for Sora occurred. Luxord had ripped the card clean in two through the middle, bisecting Mickey had he still had a physical form. Sora’s eyes widened as they changed back to their normal blue, tears dropping to the ground. _

_ “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I didn’t hear you in time Sora. Unfortunately, I don’t have anymore time for games at the moment. Perhaps later once all of this is settled.”  _

_ “As if I’d ever play games with you!” Where Luxord got the delusion that he would ever agree to something like that was beyond him. _

_ Luxord merely chuckled at that as he let the pieces of Mickey’s card drift to the ground as he vanished in a corridor of darkness, leaving Sora alone again. He had watched four of his closest friends die. He didn’t want to see anyone else die, he just didn’t! _

_ Thankfully he was spared the sight of seeing Mickey’s corpse as he was whisked to the next section of the labyrinth. What he saw though wasn’t like before, where a friend was fighting to the death. No, this fight had already been concluded and in the worst way possible. _

_ Aqua was currently on her knees and Keyblade dropped to the ground as Terra-Xehanort stood above her, keyblade aimed at her heart. Off to the side, Ven had completely collapsed on the ground, with Vanitas nowhere to be found. The two keyblade wielders had clearly lost, but what was being said was what made this just as bad as watching the others die. _

_ “You said that you were going to cast me out of Terra forever, but yet here we are. Terra’s heart belongs to the darkness now, merely another part of me. There is no saving him, much like there is no saving Ventus now. We have both accepted the darkness, completely and utterly.”  _

_ Aqua bit her lip as she trembled a bit, sparing a side glance for her other friend who was slowly beginning to stir. “No...Terra would never give in. And neither would Ven. This is all you, Xehanort.”  _

_ “I will freely admit that I helped them down the path, but we both know that darkness is the heart’s true essence. Don’t tell me you learned nothing during your time in the Realm of Darkness?” _

_ Aqua’s eyes widened for a brief moment before they narrowed, her tone defensive. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” _

_ “Now there’s no need to lie to me, that’s quite unbefitting of a Keyblade Master.” Xehanort made a tsk sound, shaking his head. “We know about the brief period when you gave into the darkness thanks to the help of Ansem. We know what you did to your friends when they came to rescue you.” _

_ “It was a moment of weakness, one that I’ll regret everyday for the rest of my life.” Even though she knew that she would likely not have a life for much longer. _

_ A chilling laugh filled the air as Ven finally stood up, Aqua and Sora freezing as the laugh sounded exactly like Vanitas. Looking at the brownet, Aqua immediately realized what had happened, a repeat of what happened over a decade ago. Vanitas had taken over Ventus’s body, but unlike before, she couldn’t hear Ven’s voice mixed with his.  _

_ “Come now Master, you shouldn’t regret something like that. After all, Venny certainly doesn’t regret agreeing to let me in and merge.” _

_ “You’re lying.”  _

_ “Maybe, but you’ve felt it too haven’t you? All those lights being extinguished. Ventus accepted that the Guardians were fated to lose this battle and that shattering his heart would only result in more pain for both you and himself. Besides, the squirt really wanted to be with Terra again and this is as close as it’ll get.” _

_ Aqua gritted her teeth as she clenched her hands, nails digging into her palms. “Shut up. He’s not Terra. And you’re not Ven. Let my friends go!” _

_ Xehanort and Vanitas merely chuckled at that, with a corridor of darkness opening several feet behind Aqua, the distinctive sound causing Aqua to freeze in fear. Xehanort was the first to speak, his tone even. _

_ “This is what your friends have become Aqua, we have embraced the darkness. Now, you have a choice to make. You can accept the darkness of your own volition and join us, it’ll be just like old times, except we shall be in shadows instead of the light. Or…” Vanitas picked up where Xehanort left off, his tone filled with mirth.  _

_ “...you can go back to the Realm of Darkness and survive in isolation again. I can assure you that no one will be coming for you this time if you make that choice. Are you truly selfish enough to deprive Ventus and Terra of their friend? Even in darkness, at least you three will be together.” _

_ Aqua was practically trembling at their words, the choice being an impossible one for her. When she had dove into the Dark Realm before, it had been to save a friend from being lost and she didn’t regret that decision one bit. But if she chose to do that now, she’d save no one. She’d only destroy herself by going back to that place. _

_ She didn’t want to be alone again, she had spent over a decade trying to get back to her friends. Her mind flashed back to when she had chased after illusions of her friends in the destroyed Enchanted Dominion, consequences be damned. Even if they were different, even if  _ **_she_ ** _ would be different, this was her last chance to be with them again. _

_ “I…” Eraqus would be ashamed in the choice that she was making, but it was becoming abundantly clear that Xehanort was going to win this battle. No one had made it in time to save Ven. And no one was going to be able to save her this time either. Even if those two weren’t truly Terra and Ven, she could pretend. At this point, she was willing to accept being delusional if it meant she could be with them. _

_ “I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want to go back there. I’ll embrace the darkness...just don’t go...” Her voice was small, broken as she allowed herself to be selfish. As the darkness in her heart began to grow. Her glassy eyes looked up at the two darknesses and for a brief instant she saw her friends again as how they used to be. That was only a dream now though. _

_ Xehan...no, Terra smiled at her choice, Keyblade emitting darkness. “A wise choice, Master Aqua. Welcome home.” With those words said, a bean of darkness shot at Aqua’s heart, with the master not resisting it. There was an involuntary gasp as darkness flooded her heart, hair turning a mixture of white and blue and eyes turning yellow, just like her friends. She had willingly embraced that what she had succumbed to in the Realm of Darkness, for the delusion of being with her friends again. _

_ The now corrupted woman stood up slowly, dusting herself off as her keyblade remained on the ground, now disconnected from the heart of its wielder. The first thing she did was embrace Terranort and Vanitas in a hug, before turning and glaring at Sora with a sneer. “You can’t save anyone Sora. Can you even save yourself?” _

_ The trio soon vanished after those words were said and Sora felt his heart tighten even more at what he had just witnessed. Aqua and Ven had given up and had willingly joined the Organization. Was it...was it really that much better to just give into the darkness? No, it had taken away so many people he had cared about, he wouldn’t give in. He couldn’t. Even if his heart was wanting to break under the pressure.  _

_ And just as before, he was whisked away to the next section of the labyrinth, the battle here already determined as well. Kairi was still standing, albeit barely with her Keyblade in hand while Saix was bearing down on her, energy radiating off of his body. Meanwhile No. i stood over a dead Lea, his keyblade becoming lifeless and joining the many others in the graveyard. _

_ The sight made Sora sick to his core while he felt Roxas’s heart for several seconds, before it faded. Axel and Xion had been his anchors, but with the former now dead and the latter being unreachable, there was no way for Roxas to awaken. His only fate now was to fade entirely and Sora felt it happen. His heart was now empty, no one else was in him and he had never felt more alone. He began banging on the invisible barrier that once again cut him off from his friends, the noise not reaching Kairi. _

_ Saix began to make his way towards Kairi, now looking rather calm, the berserker having exited his berserker state. His ploy to try and redeem himself had failed, the Guardians had lost and his closest friend was now dead. His only path now was to continue the facade, to play the role he was given. It was ironic in a way, that he was as much as a puppet as the replica. _

_ “And thus one of the New Seven Hearts is all that remained of the Guardians. It seems Axel was right, you were their trump card.”  _

_ Kairi placed her free hand over her heart, shaking her head in denial. “No, I can still feel Sora’s heart out there. This fight isn’t over yet.” _

_ “You cling onto a falsehood. Just look there…” Saix raised his arm and pointed behind Kairi, right to where Sora was, continuing his fruitless endeavour to try and make it through the barrier. “...and see how powerless he is to save any of you.” _

_ Kairi was hesitant to turn around, but Saix stopped moving towards her and merely gestured with his head with No. i still staring blankly at Lea’s corpse. With neither enemy approaching, Kairi allowed herself to look and gasped at what she saw, nearly dropping her Keyblade in the process. _

_ Sora was currently banging his hands on the barrier, the things slowly getting bruised and broken from how hard he was hitting it, tears flowing down his face as he screamed, but Kairi couldn’t hear him. What truly shocked her was the yellow that had taken over Sora’s eyes. “Sora…?” _

_ The teen stopped pounding immediately as he heard her voice, immediately trying to get her attention, but his voice was still non-existent. His eyes were now a mix of blue and yellow, unable to get his darkness under control. _

_ “There’s nothing that you can do for him now, not that you should. After all...he left all of the others to perish.” Saix’s voice was cold, forcefully so as he hit Kairi in the neck with his free hand, dropping her to the ground instantly. Detached yellow eyes glanced at Sora who was now raging again, before picking up the unconscious princess and taking her away in a dark corridor, with No. i following moments after. _

_ Sora was now on his knees, nails digging into his hands so hard that he was cutting into them, blood dripping onto the ground as the world faded around him. He seldom hated in his life, he rarely did things for revenge or some other dark purpose. But right now, he wanted the Organization to die, horrible agonizing deaths. His eyes were a pure yellow as darkness wrapped around his body, despite the tears that were still falling. _

_ When Sora could see again, he was at the end, the entirety of the Organization was assembled around him, including it’s newest additions. Master Xehanort stood atop of them all on a high pillar, disappointment evident on the old man’s face. _

_ “So it appears that light expires after all and the false light has given way to darkness.” Sora roared, it wasn’t a human scream, but something far more primal as he tried to rush the old man, only to be pinned down by Young Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas, all of them planting their feet on his back, stomping him to the ground as he could only glare up at the old man now. _

**_“Shut up!”_ **

_ “Unfortunately, the Seven Guardians of Light could not clash with our Thirteen Darknesses enough times in order to forge the x-blade. And now, because of the Guardian’s weakness, we will need to gather the New Seven Hearts in order to open the way to a new world. However, one of these New Seven Hearts was also made to be a Guardian.” _

_ As Xehanort spoke, he raised his free arm and with it, Kairi floated into the air behind him. She was wrapped in dark chains, clearly struggling to try and break free, having regained consciousness from when Saix had knocked her out before. But it was a futile effort, the darkness was far too strong, even for her pure light. _

_ “This heart knows how to truly use its power and if simply left prisoner, she could attempt to thwart our plans in more ways than one. Until the time comes for the way to Kingdom Hearts to be opened...she must be removed from the playing board.” _

**_“K a i r i!”_ ** _ Sora snapped as tendrils of darkness sprouted from his body, wrapping around the three keeping him pinned and slamming them to the ground as he rushed towards Xehanort, the other Organization members merely observing this futile resistance. They all knew that the hero would fail, his light was practically nonexistent now. _

_ As Sora was about to begin running up the pillar to try and save his final remaining friend, Xehanort struck her with his Keyblade. Her body crystallized in an instant, before shattering like glass, leaving nothing of her behind. And this time, Sora couldn’t save her. _

_ The boy consumed by darkness immediately collapsed, darkness washing off his body as he sobbed, now completely broken. His friends, people who were practically family, were all gone. Killed or corrupted by the Organization. And he had been completely unable to help them. Like he hadn’t even been there at all to help them fight. And as the feelings of helplessness and despair sunk in, Sora could no longer breathe, the entire world going dark. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, people are probably not happy with me after that last chapter, but thankfully this is going to be the worst of it for a while. Originally I was going to have a bit of fluff after this nightmare sequence, but it ended up going much longer than anticipated, so next chapter will be detailing the aftermath. Thank you to everyone whose been leaving comments, I always appreciate getting feedback.
> 
> Now onto other news, I have two new stories that I am starting work on, that will be updated a bit infrequently compared to this story. They will be Not This Time and Freelancer Agency. The former is going to be a Villain Midoriya story, while the latter is sort of a homage to the web series Red vs Blue. Specifically, adapting Project Freelancer into the My Hero world as an Underground Hero Agency. I have started a Discord server to discuss all of my projects as well as just hang out with people, link below.
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/ZVeXtY2


	7. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Sora wakes up from his nightmare, one of his guardians talks with him about his fears and concerns over a cup of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not going to lie, the main reason this chapter took so long to write was because I wanted to make sure I wrote Aizawa well, especially with him in dad mode. Expect more Dadzawa and Dadzashi in the future because Sora needs all the support that he can get. Without further ado, enjoy.

“NO!” Sora woke up with a scream, leaning up in bed with tears running down his face, though he wasn’t actively sobbing like he had been in that nightmare. His breathing was heavy as he tried to calm himself down, doing his best to try and avoid waking up his new guardians. 

Trying being the key word, after about thirty seconds of being awake, Sora could have swore he saw deep yellow eyes glaring back at him in the darkness, with the rest of the person wrapped in shadow. On instinct he tried to summon his keyblade, only for the small orb of light to pop up before extinguishing itself, the eyes still glaring at him.

The next thing he did was turn on the small lamp that was next to his bed and when the room became dimly lit, the eyes were gone. No one had actually been there, he had just thought that someone was there. Had his nightmare really gotten to him that much or was there something deeper going on?

He had never been good at dealing with feelings like this, especially on his own. The last time he had a breakdown even remotely close to what had just happened was when...when...he couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought. He had saved them, all of them, so why couldn’t he just forget that he had watched them all die? 

Not in the nightmare, but before he had saved the Guardians and broke the nature taboo that Chirithy had told him about. He had broke when everyone was gone and if it hadn’t been for Riku’s final words and Kairi giving him the chance to restore himself in the Final World to try and save everyone, he would’ve died broken. The thought was enough to make him shudder and nearly throw up.

Sighing to himself, he checked the clock on his night stand, frowning a bit as he saw the time on the clock. It was currently four in the morning, far far earlier than what Sora was used to waking up at, even during his adventures. But after that nightmare, he didn’t want to go back to sleep. He didn’t think he could go back to sleep either way, he didn’t want to deal with those nightmares anymore. Not tonight.

After a few minutes of sitting in bed and trying to process everything and ultimately trying to shove it into the back of his mind, Sora got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, hoping he didn’t wake either of his guardians up with his outburst. 

He’d try to tell them about what happened in the morning once they woke up, but it wasn’t like he was a toddler. He didn’t need to run to his guardians room and tell them about a nightmare. He didn’t want to be a bother during his first night there, especially with how nice they seemed.

He had been rather surprised the day before when Present Mic aka Hizashi Yamada had informed him that there was someone else living with him. When he had asked why he hadn’t been there to meet him at the doctor’s, Yamada had simply adopted a fake serious expression and repeating what he had been told.

‘It would be illogical for both of us to meet you and pick you up when someone needs to set your room up at the apartment.’ The blonde had immediately burst out laughing after he finished, with Sora having joined in as well. 

Yamada and Aizawa both seemed nice though, the loud pro hero was definitely the more energetic and easy going of the two while Aizawa was more serious and focused, but it seemed like he meant well. The brunet was sure he’d get along with Yamada easily and while Aizawa would likely take a bit more time, he was sure they’d get along as well.

So it was a surprise when Sora saw Aizawa in the kitchen with two cups of coffee in his hands, holding one out. “You look like you could use this.”

“Ah, thank you.” Sora took the cup and sipped it, noticing that the coffee seemed rather sweet, with the older man just shrugging.

“Figured that you took your coffee with lots of cream and sugar, seems like I was right.”

“Yeah, I’ve always had more of a sweet tooth.” Sora glanced down at the cup, looking at his reflection in the coffee. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“Don’t worry about it kid, normally wake up at 4:30 in the morning anyway. Besides, you shouldn’t be apologizing about having nightmares.” Aizawa’s tone made it clear that he was sure about why his ward was up this early.

Sora bit his lip for a moment as his guardian seemed to see right through him, before nodding. “I guess, just...not used to them being so bad.”

The man merely nodded before gesturing to Sora to sit on the couch in the living room, taking a seat next to him. It was uncommon for most heroes, whether they be in training or pros to not have nightmares. Depending on what type of hero you were, there would be plenty of brushes with death, especially if you weren’t careful. He just never thought he’d be having to help a kid who wasn’t even enrolled in a hero school yet.

“Honestly, I’d be more concerned if you weren’t having nightmares after everything you’ve been through.” Aizawa had been at the meeting, the entire U.A. Staff knew exactly what Sora had gone through. Honestly, he was amazed that the kid was still functioning normally for the most part, despite having essentially died multiple times over the last couple of years.

But there were clearly emotional cracks and he needed to find out how deep they went. The chances that Sora would need therapy were high, almost a certainty, but that wasn’t something they would force. 

Sora simply rubbed his eyes a bit as he took another sip of his coffee, before resting the mug on his leg. “Until last night, I hadn’t been...at least nothing to that extent. I know I was having one before I woke up in the hospital, but even that one didn’t compare…”

“Would you be willing to tell me about it?” Sora looked at this guardian like a deer in headlights at the question, before he started to shake a little. Just even thinking about that was making him tremble like a leaf. 

“I…” Sora couldn’t get the words out before Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder in comfort, the trembling ceasing soon after. 

“I’m sure what you dreamed about was terrifying.” Aizawa had to guess that Sora had some form of PTSD and he wouldn’t be surprised if there was some form of anxiety as well. Being in so many life or death situations would do that to anyone, especially a kid. “I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but Hizashi and I do care about you and we want to help.”

“I...thank you Aizawa, I really appreciate it. And...I’m not sure how to put this…” Sora mumbled a bit into his cup as he took another sip of the coffee. Once he finished, he took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves with little success.

“I guess I should start with what happened yesterday.” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed at that. Hizashi hadn’t mentioned anything going wrong aside from Sora collapsing from quirk exhaustion and Sora had seemed fine, though it was clear that neither of them fully knew what was normal for their ward yet.

“What happened yesterday?” He was trying to keep the anger out of his voice, concerned that someone had done something to his ward. 

“Well...when we were about to leave the doctor’s office, I had this...horrible feeling in my heart. It’s still there, but I have a feeling something happened to my friends back home.” Sora’s voice choked a bit as tears threatened to start spilling again.

“And I didn’t think anything of it c-cause I thought they were all safe. Xehanort’s gone…” If he wasn’t, Sora had no idea how he would have managed it at this point. “The w-worlds are supposed to be safe...everyone’s back...but I swear I felt something. I don’t know if my f-friends are just mourning...or if something happened to them...and there’s nothing I can do to help them if something did…”

Tears were flowing from Sora’s eyes at this point as his voice was shaky. He had moved his cup of coffee to the table to avoid spilling it, he wasn’t confident he could hold the thing steady right now.

“And...I watched them all die...Donald...Goofy...Riku...Kairi...everyone…” Sora dug his nails into the palm of his hands as he felt Aizawa’s arm wrap around his shoulders, pulling him close. “All I could do was watch...I was completely helpless…and it wasn’t the first time either...” Sora shuddered as he thought of when Terra-Xehanort had completely picked apart the Guardians and then the Heartless...

Aizawa held back a sigh, knowing that he was going to need to have Sora talk to Hound Dog at least once about this to try and figure out the full extent of the trauma that his ward had gone through. He had been through far too much for someone his age and he wasn’t sure when Sora last got to be a kid and enjoy growing up. Hopefully he would do enough on the test that he’d be taking in a week to be able to enroll in public school.

‘This kid deserves to have a normal life, even if it’s only for a little while before he gets back home. Or gets into U.A. and starts on the hero course.’ He had meant what he had said to Nezu during the meeting the other day and would advocate for Sora to take the normal entrance exam when the time came. While Sora had far more experience than any other applicant, he didn’t want to hand someone a spot that people had spent years training and working for to potentially be handed over to someone who’d been here for less than a year.

But he had no doubt that Sora would ace the regular exams, if not during the written portion, then definitely during the practical. He wouldn’t deny that he had plenty of potential, especially after what Hizashi had relayed to him after the quirk evaluation test. While he didn’t know for sure if what Sora had displayed were abilities that he had been capable of before coming here, but to already adapt them to fit his quirk was impressive.

Which suited him just fine, it meant that they could focus on rounding out any deficiencies in his education and helping him recover mentally and emotionally. Because that was far more important to him right now if this breakdown was any indication.

“I just...I don’t know what I need to do to get better...I don’t know how to get home...I want that more than anything, but there’s nothing I can do about it…everyone always told me to just follow my heart...but what am I supposed to do if I can’t?” The words were unspoken, but Aizawa knew that his panic was from being unable to make sure his friends were at least safe. He needed to be careful about how he went about this, he didn’t want to hurt Sora further. 

“Sora, you’re friends are strong right? As strong as you are?” The boy thought for a few seconds before nodding slowly.

“Then you need to believe in them. I’m sure they miss you just as much as you miss them and are worried sick about you.”

“But what if-” 

“Sora, trust me. Worrying about what ifs and maybes is only going to exhaust you both mentally and emotionally. I understand wanting to make sure your friends are safe.” Aizawa sighed quietly as an image of Oboro flashed through his mind, his fallen friend at the forefront of his thoughts. “But right now, you need to make sure you’re here and okay when they find you. I’m sure they’re doing everything they can to find you.”

“I know but-”

Aizawa sat his mug down and looked at Sora seriously, not out of anger, but out of concern. “Kid, you’ve been through more than what should ever be asked of someone at your age and I don’t know what’ll be waiting for you once you get back.” He wasn’t sure what peacetime meant where Sora came from, especially since it seemed like those Heartless would always be a threat in his world. Not unlike the villains pro heroes dealt with on a daily basis, but at least most heroes didn’t start serious training and fighting said villains until they were in high school.

“I promise that we’ll do everything we can to support you, whether it’s research or training, anything you think will help you get back home. But you also deserve some time to just be a kid and have fun, without anything looming over your head.”

Sora wiped his eyes a bit as he leaned into Aizawa’s chest, sighing as his crying began to slow down and becoming quieter. “T-Thank you Aizawa...and Yamada too...for everything. I know you didn’t h-have to take me in…”

Aizawa shook his head a bit, a slight smirk on his face. “Of course we did problem child, it’s the right thing to do. Besides, you made quite the impression on both of us before we even met you.” 

Sora blinked a couple of times, looking up at the older man. “I did?”

“Sure, not just anyone can do the things you have, even if I’m still wrapping my head around all of it. You’re a good kid Sora, even if you have a few things that need to be worked on, you have a good head on your shoulders and your heart is in the right place. Trust me, that’s more than I say about a lot of people.”

“Really?”

“Most people want to become heroes because they’ll think it’ll be fun or they’ll make good money off of it, it’s not common for someone to go the hero route because they want to help people exclusively. And while you were forced into it, it seems like you’ve always tried to do the right thing and help people even if you don’t have to. Even if you didn’t have that experience under your belt, you’d have enough potential to not get expelled if you got into my class.”

Sora’s mouth dropped at that, while being given praise for his accomplishments was a bit new to him, given most of his friends had just always expected that from him, what had shocked him was the news of expulsions being talked about so casually. “How many people have you expelled?”

Aizawa merely smirked at that. “A lot, though if you want an estimate, this year I expelled my entire class. I don’t do that every year, but this year no one showed that potential. So try not to lose that between now and the entrance exam, and I would hate to expel the kid Hizashi wanted to take in so bad.”

“Your entire...class...wow...I’ll do my best!”

“I know you will kid.” Aizawa glanced over at the clock and saw it was 4:45am now, the two had been talking for quite a while and Sora seemed to be calming down now. Though he doubted the problem child would be getting back to sleep thanks to that coffee either way.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes longer with Sora finishing off his cup of coffee. “Hey, Aizawa, can I ask you something? And promise you won’t laugh?”

“Of course, on both counts.” Aizawa raised an eyebrow, curious as to what his ward would want that he was being asked not to laugh. Couldn’t be any crazier than some of the things that Hizashi had wanted over the years.

“Could...you maybe look into a nightlight for my room? I know it sounds childish, but…” As Sora went into a tangent, Aizawa should have figured something like that would be needed sooner or later.

“Of course, we can pick one up after I get off work today. Just because I expelled my entire class doesn’t mean I don’t have to work.” Aizawa sighed a bit, knowing he was going to have to make sure Sora didn’t get into any trouble. “Plus, there’s someone I want you to meet at U.A. if you’re up for it.”

“Oh, who's that?” Sora tilted his head, the young man curious about who one of his guardians wanted him to meet at the school.

“He’s the school’s guidance counselor and therapist, and goes by Hound Dog for his hero name. I’m not sure if you’ve ever talked with someone about...well anything you’ve had to deal with, but I think seeing someone would do you some good. Plus, he knows about you so you won’t have to lie to him.”

Sora bit his lip, it felt so weird to be talking about any of his issues outside of his circle of friends back home. Heck, he had never even talked with his mom about most of this stuff, just that he had been away doing important business the last couple of times he saw her. His chest tightened a bit as he wondered what Riku and Kairi would have told her now that he was gone and they had no clue when he was coming back.

“I...I’ll try at least. I don’t know what I’ll say, but I can definitely try.”

“That’s all I ask, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, for something a bit more funny and lightheared because after two chapters of angst, I needed this. Without further ado, Dadzawa punching Mickey Mouse.
> 
> Omake: Aizawa Shares Parental Tips
> 
> “Excuse me, are you Mickey Mouse?” Aizawa was currently dressed in his hero costume and had a bit of a scowl on his face as he was looking for his target.
> 
> “Haha, sure am pal! How can I help ya?” Mickey had a smile on his face, oblivious as to what was about to happen.
> 
> A few seconds later, the king would find himself grabbed by Eraserhead’s capture weapon before being punched square in the face and sending him flying several feet. And while the pro hero knew his quirk was pointless, he had it active now for dramatic effect.
> 
> Mickey was now lying on his back as Eraserhead stood above him, glaring down at him. 
> 
> “Next time you need children to fight in your war, please ensure that you are giving them proper counseling and emotional care for the trauma they are going through. And no, constantly telling someone to just smile does not count as proper emotional care. Because if I find out you pulled that kind of crap again, I will be back, your majesty.”
> 
> With that, the pro hero vanished as Mickey rubbed his face, a very noticeable bruise already forming from the punch that he had been given. 
> 
> “Gosh, what was that about?”


	8. Seizing Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora talks with Hound Dog about some of the emotions that he's processing and decides on a course of action to try and calm his nerves.

“Ah Mr. Haruki, it’s good to meet you. Or do you prefer going by Sora?”

“Ah, Sora’s fine. It’s nice to meet you too Hound Dog.” Sora looked at the pro hero across from him, trying to relax a bit. He wasn’t used to talking to people about his issues, but he had accepted this was a unique situation. Plus, he didn’t want to have to keep his feelings bottled up for months or even years if it came to that.

He had spent most of the day so far in the staff room at U.A., specifically so he wouldn’t wander off and get into trouble per Aizawa’s instructions. He knew there were some rules that he hadn’t been told about yet, but after seeing how large the school was, he had hoped he’d get to see more of it.

Then again, almost no one knew about his living with Aizawa and Yamada and the less questions he got about why he was at U.A. when he wasn’t even a student there, the better. At least that’s what Aizawa had told him that morning after they arrived and he wasn’t going to argue against it. 

“So, how are you feeling today Sora?” Hound Dog’s tone was a calm one despite his more gruff appearance, though Sora had actually felt a bit relieved. Even though it wasn’t exactly the same, the pro hero’s appearance reminded him of Goofy a little. And he’d take any reminders of home that he could get.

“I’m…” Sora was fidgeting with his fingers a bit, taking a deep breath. “I could be doing better. Woke up from a really bad nightmare this morning and with everything that’s happened in the last week or so, I feel like everything is slipping away.”   
  


“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean, I’ve lost my powers…” For the third or fourth time, at this point he’s having a hard time keeping track of how often it’s happened. “I’ve been seperated from my friends and I don’t even know if they’re okay right now. And I can’t do anything here to try and help you guys out, something about vigilantism.”

Sora had been looking up what he could online, thankfully his Gummiphone was fully compatible with this world’s network and he had been able to connect to it with no issue. He was sure Aizawa or someone would give him a more concrete explanation at some point, but for now he’d learn what he could.

Hound Dog simply nodded as he wrote some notes down on his notepad. “So you feel powerless?”

Sora didn’t reply for a few seconds before nodding. “Yeah and I hate feeling like this. I feel like I should be doing something, anything. But I’m just stuck, I can’t do anything to help my friends back home. All my strength came from them and without it, without them, I’m worthless.”

“Sora, you’re not worthless, regardless of whether or not you have your strength.”

Sora shook his head in disagreement, resting his hands on his knees. “But without it, what good am I?”

Hound Dog held back a sigh as he wrote some more notes on his notepad. “You still want to help people right?”

“Of course I do.”

“You’re not worthless. You’re a very kind and caring young man who would do anything for the people you care about. Even for complete strangers if they extended a hand and asked for help. That’s a very admirable trait if I say so myself.”

“That’s nothing special though, most people would do that.” Sora felt his stomach twist as he said that, he knew he was downplaying himself, but he didn’t feel like he deserved to be raised to that high a pedestal. Something that Hound Dog definitely disagreed with.

“Sora, most people wouldn’t, regardless of whether we had laws against public quirk usage or not. I know the situation where you come from is different, but a lot of people tend to leave things to pro heroes here. Regardless of how bad a situation is. A lot of stories for the big heroes start with them moving without thinking and saving someone. One I believe you share given how things started for you.”

Sora didn’t respond to that right away, thinking back to the fateful night his adventure had started. Sure, he had started that night trying to make sure the raft wasn’t damaged in the storm, but it quickly turned into trying to survive. But when Riku and then Kairi had been in danger, he had tried to save them. And failed. His journey started the day he lost them both. He would be lying if his first journey hadn’t been for selfish reasons, to simply get Riku and Kairi back. 

But in the process of that, he helped a lot of people, saved them from the forces of darkness. Something that repeated during his second journey, started to find Riku and Mickey, but he had done the same again. While himself, Donald, and Goofy could have just moved on as soon as they found out Riku and the King weren’t there, they all stayed until the issues in whatever world they were in were resolved.

“Yeah, but...I mean, most people aren’t given the same chance that I was.”

“You’re right, your circumstances are a bit unique. But consider this, many people here have an incredible power with their quirks, yet still turn to villainy. There are those who think that because their quirk is strong, they should be in power. There are some who think it gives them permission to torment those weaker than them. And from my understanding, there were those like that where you come from as well. They had an incredible power and could have used it to better the world and yet they chose to either destroy or terrorize it instead.” It was taking every bit of Hound Dog’s control to remain calm as he thought about all the villains he had seen over the years.

Sora frowned a bit as he thought about it from that perspective. Xehanort had been trying to create a new world through the Keyblade War, but he had been doing so in order to achieve a balance between light and darkness. Just the way he went about it had been completely wrong. 

There were plenty of others though who had fit the mold that Hound Dog was talking about, with Maleficent being one of the first to come to mind.

“I mean...yeah, you’re not wrong.”

Hound Dog simply nodded at his response. “Now, I know it’s hard not knowing how your friends are doing. But you would agree that your friends are capable right?”   
  
“Of course, they’re some of the strongest people I know.” Sora’s belief in his friends was absolute, even if he didn’t have that same kind of faith in himself at the moment.

“Then you’re going to have to have faith in them. I’m sure they’re doing everything they can to find you right now. I know it’s hard, especially when you don’t know what could be going on back home. Especially when you don’t have a definitive goal to work towards.”

“Of course I have a goal, get back home.”

“And do you know what you have to do to do that?” Hound Dog raised an eyebrow as he asked that question, before Sora sighed.

“Not really, aside from healing my heart. But I’m not even sure what I need to do to do that.” It was true, it wasn’t like he had gone into a coma or anything. He wasn’t sure how to heal his heart, especially if he couldn’t dive into it.

“I see. And you can’t really do any heroic activities here until you at least get your Provisional License. You could always do some community service, but I think you need to try and get a sense of normality. You’ve spent over a year focusing on one goal after another, right?”

“Yeah, that sounds right.”

“While you have spent that time pursuing ideal things such as saving people, when was the last time you took some time for yourself?”

“Well, the night before we headed to the Keyblade Graveyard before the final battle with Xehanort.” Hound Dog was not satisfied with that, he could hear the implication that it was only a few hours.

“And before that?”

“I...hmm…” Sora tilted his head as he tapped his foot a bit. “I think when I dove back into the Realm of Sleep to see the Spirits again. Was there for a day or so. Before that was after defeating Xemnas, was back on the islands for a few weeks before that whole adventure.”

“I see. Well, based on all that, I have a couple of recommendations for you. I know you’re waiting to test to see where your current school year level is, but I think regardless of the results, you should attend a public school. I think being able to spend time around people your own age without having the weight of the world on your shoulders will do you some good.”

It had been sometime since Sora hadn’t had to worry about the worlds being in peril or his friends being in immediate danger. Even though what he had felt yesterday could have been a warning that something was wrong, he could easily be overthinking things. Or fearing the worst when there was no proof that the worst was happening.

“By all means, feel free to sign up for some local community service during after school hours, but I would strongly recommend making some friends both in and out of school. I know it’ll be easy for you if your past experiences are anything to go by, but I think making new friends will help you take your mind off of what could potentially be happening back home. I’m not saying to forget about them, not at all. But constantly worrying about them is only going to hurt your recovery in the long run.”

“I...I’ll try on that last part.” 

“That’s all anyone can ask Sora. Now is there anything else you want to talk about while you’re here?” Sora glanced down at the question as he had several thoughts running through his head right now. He knew this wouldn’t be easy for him, he would always worry about his friends no matter what. But trying to decrease the amount of worry, that couldn’t hurt right? 

“Actually, do you have a sheet of paper and a glass bottle? There’s something I want to do that I think will help. I can have Aizawa take me to where I wanna go to drop it off.”

Hound Dog simply nodded and flipped his notepad to a blank page, ripping it out and handing it and a pen to Sora who smiled. “I’ll try and dig up a glass bottle for ya.”

With that Hound Dog stepped out of the office to leave Sora alone for a few minutes as he began to write. 

_ I know you guys must be worried sick about me ever since I vanished and I’m not sure when this letter is going to reach you, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m safe. I’ve lost my powers so I’m not sure when I’m going to make it home, but I’ll get there someday. I’m sure everyone is trying to find me right now and while I don’t know how you guys can reach this place, I’m hoping this letter will help guide you all, one way or another. _

_ I’ll be doing everything I can on my side to try and get my powers back so I can make it home. No matter where you guys are, I’ll be keeping you all in my thoughts and I know you’ll be doing the same. Just make sure you all take care of yourselves, if I make it back before you find me, I don’t want to find out you all ran yourselves raggad on my account. _

_ Don’t worry, I’m gonna be taking care of myself, some of the locals here took me in and are gonna be helping me through all this. And...tell my folks that I’m doing fine, I know my mom’s worried sick about me. _

_ And Kairi...when I get back, if you’ll have me, I wanna go out, just the two of us. _

_ Sora _

* * *

That evening once classes had let out, Aizawa, Yamada, and Sora were at Dagobah Beach. The former had a hand on Sora’s shoulder as he looked out at the waves, a solemn expression on his face.

“Kid, you know if you don’t want to do this…” Sora simply nodded as he held the bottle in his hand, letter rolled up and inside with a crown emblem on the outside part of the rolled up piece of paper.

“I know. But this is all I can do right now to try and reach out to them and let them know I’m at least okay. Who knows, maybe it’ll lead them to me if they get it.” It had worked once before and while this was a different set of circumstances, Sora had to trust his feeling on this one.

The young man began to walk towards the edge of the beach, water brushing up against his shoes as he watched the waves, a sad smile on his face. “At least no matter where I go, the waves sound the same.”

The brunet knelt down and sat the bottle in the water, watching as the waves began to carry it off into the distance. A few tears dropped into the water as well, before he wiped them away and began to walk back towards his guardians who were waiting for him.

“Little listener, are you sure your letter is gonna even get to them? I mean, how can a bottle traverse worlds?” Hizashi didn’t want to dampen his ward’s hopes like that, but he was confused about how all this worked still. The question was immediately met with an elbow to the ribs by Aizawa who was glaring at him.

“Well, there’s one sky, one destiny. It may take a while, but I know my message will get to them someday.” Sora had a smile on his face as he clung onto that hope. He knew he’d be reunited with his friends someday, but for now the least he could do was make sure they knew he was safe.

As the trio walked towards a small car, Aizawa glanced at Sora. “What did you write in that letter anyway, problem child?”

Sora chuckled a bit at the question, rubbing the back of his head. “Well, it’s supposed to be a secret, but I guess I can give a hint. It’s an oath to return. It’s hope.” For his friends and for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/2A9GxrJ  
> Tumblr: somecallitkye.tumblr.com


	9. A New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora starts his first day at Nabu Middle School and with his first day of school comes new revelatiosn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize how long it has been since the last chapter of this came out in relation to some of the other works/updates I've put out since then. This chapter was a bit difficult to get done due to having to deal with the topics of bullying and discrimination and I cannot stand either happening to someone.

Sora grumbled a bit as he adjusted his tie as he was walking towards the school building, not at all used to wearing a school uniform. Especially a tie, if his constant pulling at it was anything to go by. While he was excited to meet some other people closer to his own age, he could go without the uniform.

It had been a busy few days since he had met with Hound Dog at U.A., he had been given a test to determine his current school level and while he had done slightly below average, he had passed at a second year junior high level. Which would put him with people around his age, but he would have to put in extra work to catch up. 

Which Aizawa had been more than eager to start giving him before he had even gotten his exam results back. The main portion of which had been quirk law and history so that he wouldn’t seem out of place if the subject came up. Plus, Aizawa had a feeling that if it wasn’t beat into his head, he would certainly get himself into trouble, unintentionally or otherwise.

Something Sora could understand, he was definitely prone to running into situations swinging. And he would rather not end up in jail or in trouble with the law, especially for just trying to help people. If he was going to be gone in just a couple of weeks, he might have considered it, but if he was going to be here for months or even years, best to not get in trouble with law enforcement.

‘Alright, I need to remember, no using my quirk unless it’s in self defense. No running into fights, especially if there are already other pro heroes around. If I need to help someone, it needs to be a non-violent thing like a cat in a tree or something along those lines.’

It was going to be difficult to ignore his first instinct to run into a fight, sword swinging, but he would do it. He didn’t want to betray Aizawa’s trust by getting into trouble and making him look bad. 

Especially since he would be quite recognizable right now, with his face and name being plastered over the news since someone had gotten some footage of when he first arrived in the world. He was relieved when his cover story was what was being circulated by the news and no one seemed to suspect his true origins. Still, he wasn’t used to having a place in the spotlight like this, at least where the general public knew about him.

Though it had been nice when a few people had offered condolences for what he had lost and that they hoped he would adjust to life here. While they didn’t have the correct context, the gesture was still immensely appreciated by him.

Those thoughts were what lingered in his mind as he stood outside of the classroom, waiting for the cue from the teacher to come on. He was tapping his foot as he waited, definitely eager to meet his classmates and hopefully friends for the next several months. He knew not everyone would be going to the same high school upon graduation, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t keep in touch afterwards.

“Class, we have a new student joining us a bit late into the school year. You might have seen his name pop up on the news, but please give Sora Haruki a warm welcome.” 

As Sora heard the teacher talk, he opened the door to the classroom and walked in and bowed to the rest of the class, with most of them giving various forms of a warm welcome. 

“Now, unfortunately there are only two seats open, but go ahead and choose one and we’ll see if we can get you moved somewhere else later.” The teacher gestured towards the back right corner of the classroom where a tired looking purple haired kid sat with no one sitting by him. That seemed a bit odd, but he would be more than glad to sit by the kid.

Walking towards a desk that was next to the kid, several of the other students seemed to be giving him a look of pity. He just shrugged it off though, not knowing why sitting next to a certain person would be a problem.

“Hey, nice to meet you.” Sora offered a small wave to the other boy who didn’t seem to acknowledge the greeting, merely nodding his head slightly.

Another student tapped his shoulder, getting his attention, though what he said was very concerning.

“I wouldn’t associate with him, that one is bad news.” The student’s tone was concerning as well, a hint of malice in there, causing Sora to glance back at him for a few seconds, before returning his attention to the other student.

“He doesn’t seem that bad though. Lacking sleep sure, but everyone has issues with that sometimes.” The other student merely scoffed at him, in what seemed to be a case of pity.

“That’s because you don’t know what his quirk is yet. He has a villain’s quirk and if you let your guard down around him, he’ll snatch you up.” That raised immediate red flags in Sora’s mind, though not for the purple haired boy. But for his other classmates, given their treatment of the other student, especially since he had been cornered off by himself.

Plus, a villain quirk? That didn’t make sense, power wasn’t inherently good or evil. Darkness, something that he had thought to be evil at one point, had been used to protect the light numerous times back home. And Xehanort had even used light magic during their final confrontation, something Sora didn’t think the old master would ever do. 

So for a quirk to be inherently evil and villainous, that just sounded wrong. And even if it was a quirk that was more inclined for performing crimes or malicious intent, surely it had the potential to be used for good. At the very least, he wanted to try and get to know the other guy before jumping to any conclusions.

“Yeah, well thanks for the warning, but I’ll be fine. His quirk can’t be that bad.” Sora’s remark was a bit meaner than he had planned on, but if these guys were bullying the other guy, then any good will he’d have would immediately be put somewhere else.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The other student just turned away from him with Sora shaking his head a bit, before the teacher called for their attention as classes would be starting soon.

The morning went by pretty quickly with Sora focusing the best he could on his lessons, but his mind kept drifting to the guy next to him. He didn’t know him at all yet aside from him apparently having a villain’s quirk, but that meant nothing to him. He needed to talk to him again, see if he could get to know him, if only a little. 

Once the lunch period hit, Sora quickly tried to find the person he wanted to sit with, finding him in the back sitting by himself. A small frown formed on his face as he saw that. It was likely no one wanted anything to do with him. Well, he’d just have to change that. Walking over, he forced a smile onto his face.

“Hey, mind if I join you?” The purple haired kid looked up, his eyes going a bit wide before he quickly regained his composure.

“If you want, there’s plenty of space.” Sora grinned a bit as he sat down across from him, sitting his tray down on the table.

“Thanks. By the way, I don’t think I ever got your name from earlier.” He didn’t really feel a need to introduce himself after earlier, better to try to get to know the other guy.

“Shinso.”

“Nice to meet ya Shinso.” Sora began to eat his meal while Shinso just looked at him for a few seconds.

“Why’d you do it?” Shinso was looking at Sora in the eyes as he swallowed the food he had in his mouth, tilting his head a bit. He had a feeling at what he was referring to, but presuming would be a bad thing here.

“Why did I do what?” Shinso rolled his eyes a bit at the question.

“You know what. Defend my quirk when you don’t even know what it is.” Sora deflated a bit as that was confirmed, sighing a bit. 

“Because, there’s no such thing as a villain’s quirk. Sure, there are some that are surely easier to use for crime. But, a quirk doesn’t determine whether someone is a hero or villain. It’s the other way around.” Shinso’s eyes widened a bit before he narrowed them at Sora, almost out of anger.

“You can only say that because you don’t have a villainous quirk. You don’t know what it’s like to be ridiculed for it, for everyone to walk on eggshells around you.” Sora found himself frowning some more at that, rubbing the back of his head. 

“True, it would be hard to see how someone with a quirk that uses light would turn to doing crimes when it would seem suited for hero work. But, my father was a small time criminal back home. He could shoot off small orbs of light that exploded, basically flashbangs.” It was a half truth, but Sora had said it with such confidence that it’d be hard to determine if he was lying. His dad had been a small time criminal, manly pickpocketing among other things back on Destiny Islands. 

Shinou’s reaction was a mild one as he relaxed somewhat, having to concede that Sora did have a point with that. Still, in his mind there was a difference between a quirk being used for crime and being born with a villain’s quirk. 

Before the two could continue their friendly debate however, a group of their classmates all with demeaning expressions on their face. Their malice directed towards Shinso as one of them nudged Sora a bit harder than necessary.

“Aw, what’s this Shinso, finally decided to brainwash someone to sit with you? What, you wanted to snatch him up before someone told him about you?” Brainwash? Was that what they all meant by a villain’s quirk? Well, he didn’t feel different the entire time they were talking so he couldn’t have been brainwashed.

“Guys, I’m fine, Shinso didn’t do anything.” One of the others just scoffed at that, before glancing at their classmate who had nudged Sora before. 

“I don’t think you gave him enough of a push to snap him out of it. He’s clearly still under Eyebags control.” Sora frowned a bit at that, but before he could retort he was shoved this time, his stomach hitting against the table he was sitting at. In reality it didn’t hurt that much compared to other injuries he had suffered before, but it was more so the intention behind it.

“What about now, that should’ve been more than enough to-”

“Back off.” Sora’s hands had curled into fists at this point as he glared at the group of teens in front of him. His stare was so serious that the group took a couple of steps back in fear. He had glared at many enemies over the couple of years he had been on his adventures, but never did he get this reaction from them.

“What the hell, he should’ve snapped out of it by now!” “You think Shinso actually programmed him?” “That’d be a new low, even for a villain like hi-”

“HE’S NOT A VILLAIN!” Sora stood from his seat as Shinso seemed to shrink a little, not wanting to be involved with this anymore than he had to. He couldn’t believe that this guy was defending him despite knowing about his quirk. It was the first time he could recall in years that someone did that for him.

“Sure his quirk might seem terrifying, but that doesn’t make him a bad person! If anything, you’re the villains here, picking on someone who won’t fight back. He’s a better person than all of you put together.” A small crowd had formed around them at this point with the bullies standing in complete shock. They weren’t used to anyone talking back to them and the kid looked absolutely terrifying while doing it.

After several seconds the head bully merely scoffed. “Whatever, you two freaks can have each other. Just stay away from the rest of us. We don’t watch to catch the villain taint.” The small group walked off and forced their way through the crowd which was slowly starting to disperse, most of them whispering in disgust about the two, before they were left alone again.

Sora merely sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, before looking at Shinso again. He was absolutely shaken by what he had just witnessed, he was sure that it was going to break out into some kind of fight. 

“Sorry about that Shinso, I’m sure that I probably made things worse for you.” The other boy just shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened.

“Don’t worry about it, hopefully you just scared them off for a while.” Shinso picked at his food a bit, a slight frown on his face before he looked at the guy across from him. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?” Sora tilted his head a bit confused.

“What you said about me not being a villain because of my quirk?”

“Of course I did. I don’t know how your quirk works and I’m not going to pry, but brainwashing sounds like an impressive quirk. You’re a good guy for not using it to make those jerks shut up and that tells me all I need to know.” Shinso looked at the other, leaning in for a couple of moments before a slight smirk formed on his face as he chuckled.

“Haruki, I...thank you. You’re the first person to say that to me.” Sora smiled at that for a few moments, but the implication of what Shinso just said hit him.

“Not even your parents?” Shinso shook his head slightly at that as he sighed.

“Don’t know if they’d believe in me or even tolerate my quirk. I was given up to a foster home when I was little and after my quirk awakened, I’ve been passed around between multiple foster homes.” Sora’s smile quickly faded at what he was hearing, one of his first friends here was being passed around because of something he couldn’t control? And Izuku...those tears when he had said he believed in him...was he being bullied too?

“Shinso, that’s…” What he said next caught him completely off guard.

“It’s fine though, because I’m going to become a hero and prove them all wrong. So many people are blessed with wonderful quirks and are put on a high pedestal because of it. I’ll prove that a quirk like mine isn’t villainous, but heroic.” Sora smirked at that declaration.

“Well then, seems like we have a lot of work ahead of us.” Shinso blinked slightly at that, wondering where Sora was going with this. “We have a little under nine months until U.A.’s entrance exam and I want to be ready for whatever they might throw at us.” 

‘And...both you and Izuku, friends who are going for that same goal with the odds stacked against them. Well, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t support you all the way?’

Shinso leaned forward a bit, curiosity in his eyes now. “What exactly are you suggesting?”

Sora had a smirk on his face as he finished eating his meal. “That we need to do everything we can to prepare for the exam. And I think I know someone who can help with that.”


	10. Author Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update on what's been going on and where the next chapter is.

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I posted the last chapter of this story and I want to apologize for essentially dropping off without so much a word that I'd be away. Since the last chapter came out, I went back to my previous job from furlough and then started a new job at the start of June. In addition to that, I am currently looking into finding my own place and moving out from living with my folks. Not to mention the pandemic and all the other crazy shit that I'm stressing over, so it's been a crazy couple of months since I last updated. I just want to let all of you know that I have not abandoned this fic, I am still working on future chapters.

I currently have a Google Doc filled with chapter outlines for what will be happening going forward and roughly how many chapters per arc. I am estimating three to four more chapters before we start at U.A. with what I have outlined right now, but that could easily change if I have more ideas on things to cover during the remaining eight months leading up to the Entrance Exam. Once we get there, things should start moving at a more normal pace, assuming some of the plot threads I have planned don't take longer to set up than I think they will.

I want to thank everyone for their patience and continued support for this fic, I am going to try and get a backlog of chapters ready so I can post once or twice a week for a while to keep constant updates going. Once the next chapter is ready and posted, I will take this one down.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you to everyone who reads and supports this story, it wouldn't be possible without you all. If you want to chat with me or other readers of this story, feel free to join the Discord.
> 
> Discord: https://discord.gg/2A9GxrJ


End file.
